His Miracle Bride

CHAPTER NINE

IT WAS a long time before Pierce sought the sanctuary of his bedroom. He’d given up on sleep a long time ago, practically at the time Maureen had arrived needing his help. He’d learned to survive on snatches gleaned where he could. Now he stood motionless, staring out over the sea. Trying to find answers.

Shanni was stirring something inside him that he’d vowed would never be stirred.

Happy families…

His childhood had been one long attempt at happy families. It had been his mother’s dream. He’d settle in a foster home, she’d find a new lover, she’d drag him out of his foster placement, and she’d start the happy family routine.

Only of course it was always a disaster. It would fall apart, in weeks or months, but never longer. Then he’d be abandoned again. The foster placement he’d previously been in would almost certainly not still be available, so he’d start all over again. Living with strangers. Trying to make a life.

Once he’d gone to Ruby she’d moved heaven and earth to get him back every time his mother had discarded him, but sometimes even Ruby couldn’t help.

Happy families didn’t happen.

But now…

He had five children. He’d adopted them. Five children…

And now there was Shanni. A chameleon of a failed art curator, who couldn’t paint cows’ legs, who made his kids smile, who was orphaned herself…

Let’s not get carried away here, he told himself hastily. Her parents were still alive. They’d just sublet their house.

Yet when Shanni had referred to herself as an orphan…It had made him smile, but at the same time it had touched something deep inside that had never been touched. Until now.

He wasn’t interested.

She’s on the rebound from weirdo Mike, he told himself. That’s why she kissed you.

So, why did you kiss her?

There were no answers.

And Wendy had talked to her. For some reason, that hurt. He’d done his best to get close to these kids-well, to get as close as he’d ever want to be-but here was Shanni, diving in as she’d done when she was ten years old, boots and all, tossing her heart into the ring before her…

It scared him to death.

That kiss…

He shouldn’t have kissed her. It had changed something inside him, something so fundamental he’d thought it was part of him. To let himself go…

To lose control…

No. Happy families were for others. Not for him. Maureen’s plight had wrenched him out of his isolation, but to let him be drawn further…

There was a part of him that was clenched tight with fear. He was falling in love with five kids, and that terrified him. To extend it still further…Hell, he couldn’t take that step.

But Shanni…

Shanni. He wanted her so much it was like a physical pain. But to take that step and then lose it…

Maybe he wouldn’t lose it. Maybe he could take the chance?

But he didn’t trust it. This feeling. He didn’t trust himself. Over thirty years of drilled-in knowledge couldn’t be overcome by one kiss.

By one slip of a girl.

He shook his head, doubts crowding in from all directions. She was on the rebound. Maybe she always kissed like that. She’d felt sorry for him twenty years ago. Hell, he didn’t want pity now.

The doubts were screaming at him. It was like he had six faces before him, the kids and Shanni, all crowding into a heart that had learned early to shrivel in self-defence.

He couldn’t. To take that last step…to admit them in and need them…

He’d hurt them. He couldn’t give them what they needed. He’d try the best he could with the kids, for he had no choice and neither did they, but to take it further was just plain dumb. Criminally cruel. For he knew Shanni. Twenty years ago she’d been just as she was today-loving, bolshy, demanding. If he let her in, she’d demand more than he could ever be prepared to give.

His love.

He paced the battlements a bit longer, telling himself to move on, but the battlements only went so far. Finally, defeated, he retreated to his vast bedchamber.

Bessy was still asleep. Maybe it was the sea air, or maybe her tiny body had shaken off the worst of the infection and she was sleeping to heal.

He ought to sleep to heal himself.

There’s nothing wrong with me, he told the sleeping Bessy, but she wasn’t interested.

He was going nuts.

Two weeks…

He had to get rid of Shanni, he decided. She was messing with his equilibrium, and if there was one thing he valued above all else it was his equilibrium. He’d taken on five kids and he’d been crazy to do that. It was done, it couldn’t be undone, and he’d do his best for them, but this commitment business went no further. It terrified him.

It couldn’t extend to Shanni.

But…She needed a rest. She was broke. She wanted to stay.

He’d asked Blake to help. At the thought of what he’d ask his foster brother to do, he settled a little. It was three in the morning. That meant it was six in the evening in London, and Blake was in London. The international law firm Blake worked with meant he had a base in every major financial district in the world.

Six…Yeah, he’d be still working, Pierce thought. Like the rest of Ruby’s boys, Blake was a workaholic. Ruby had launched them with professional qualifications, and past hunger had fed their ambition.

Blake answered on the first ring. ‘Hey, Pierce.’ From the other side of the world, Pierce’s foster brother reacted with pleasure. It was the same for all of them, Pierce thought. Like men who’d gone to battle together, their past meant that they were unfailingly there for each other in a world where they’d learned to trust no one else. ‘How goes the menagerie?’

He’d told Blake what he was doing. He’d needed his legal expertise. Blake had reacted with shock, and he had been right behind Pierce’s decision not to tell Ruby any more than she’d overheard.

‘Great,’ Pierce told him now, without conviction.

‘Are you at the farm?’

‘We’re at Loganaich Castle.’

‘What, all of you?’

‘Yeah.’

There was a moment’s pause. Then, ‘Hell, Pierce, Ruby will find out about the kids.’

‘The staff here have sworn confidentiality. Besides, these people don’t see Ruby. She was only here at the opening in her past foster parent role.’

‘If you’re sure…’

‘I’m sure.’

‘Cos, bro, much as I love you, if you’re in trouble with those kids you’re not landing them on Ruby.’

‘I won’t do that.’

Blake heard the finality of Pierce’s tone and backed off. ‘I’m sorry. I know you won’t. So to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?’

‘Shanni.’

‘Shanni, as in Ruby’s niece? Your temporary housekeeper?’

‘That’s the one. You got the consent forms I sent you?’

‘I did.’

‘So I was wondering where it’s at.’

‘Are we in a rush?’ Blake asked cautiously.

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘She’s broke,’ Pierce said. ‘And I’m stuck with her until she’s not broke any more. I want her gone.’

There was a moment’s pause. ‘Um…I thought you needed her for the kids.’

‘I don’t.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because the staff here are competent to do any caring that’s required, and I don’t want her getting any closer to the kids.’

‘Because?’

‘Hell, Blake…’

‘I’m supposed to guess?’

‘No.’

‘She’s pretty, right?’

‘No!’ Was she? He thought back to Shanni and her pig pyjamas and her blanket. ‘A bit.’

‘She’s gorgeous, maybe?’

‘What’s that got to do with it?’

‘Nothing. I just wondered…So, she’s at the castle with you?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you want to get rid of her?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you can’t get rid of her unless she has money.’

‘She’s been running this art show in London.’

‘I know that.’

‘So you’ve been working on it?’

‘I have.’

‘And?’

‘Too soon to tell, boyo,’ Blake said lazily. ‘You might be stuck with her for a few days yet.’

‘But a promise might be enough to get her off my back.’

‘She’s really riding you.’

‘No. I…’

‘You’re in trouble,’ Blake said slowly, on a note of discovery. ‘You’ve fallen for Ruby’s niece.’

‘I can’t stand her.’

‘Why can’t you stand her?’

‘She’s sticking her nose into things that aren’t her business.’

‘Meaning she’s invading your personal space.’

‘That too. I tell you, Blake, I want her gone. I need to find a competent middle-aged woman who can give these kids the care they deserve.’

‘And Shanni can’t.’

‘She’s a flibbertigibbet. She’ll have them fall for her, and she’ll be off with the next man.’

‘She’s a flirt?’

‘And the rest. God help us, Blake, she landed in Australia worse than broke. She turned up to work for me without checking the situation. And now she’s taking Wendy shopping…’

‘I’m missing a few bits here.’

‘There’s nothing to miss. She’s an irresponsible nuisance, and I need your help to get rid of her.’

‘I’ll see what I can do. And meanwhile…’ He paused.

‘Meanwhile what?’

‘Meanwhile you just take care, little brother. Something tells me you’re in way out of your depth.’

‘I’m not.’

‘Yeah, and pigs might fly. I need to get back to work. See ya.’

The problem with fireplaces was they had chimneys. The problem with rooms back to back in a turret meant that they shared a wall. With a fireplace. With one chimney.

In such a situation sound travelled up chimneys, but on the way it managed a detour into the room behind.

Shanni’s room.

‘She’s an irresponsible nuisance, and I need your help to get rid of her.’

The words made her feel physically ill.

An irresponsible nuisance…

I am not, she told the dark. I cleaned your house and I fed your kids, and I managed to get Donald away from the bull. Where does ‘irresponsible nuisance’ come into that?

It had been a bit irresponsible to land on his doorstep without checking.

So he’d lied by inferring there was only one child. That’s me being irresponsible?

Anger helped override hurt. A bit. She indulged herself in anger a bit more, and found she was so wild she wanted to storm next door and hit him.

Which would indeed be irresponsible.

She should just go. She wasn’t wanted. He hated her being here. He’d kissed her against his better judgement, and now he was talking to some stranger, telling him she was interfering in his life.

Right. She’d go. She’d put aside her pride and ring her parents for help. Jules would put her up until her parents could transfer some money.

She was almost twenty-nine years old, planning on sleeping on her best friend’s floor until her parents could rescue her. She felt about six.

Anger faded and desolation took over.

She sniffed.

She was an irresponsible nuisance.

So much for imagining she was in love.

So much for being in love.

Her anger had helped but it had faded now. She was left feeling…dumb. And lost. Bereft.

An irresponsible nuisance.

Pierce thought that of her. And she’d been stupid enough to fall…

You don’t fall in love in three days, she told herself, but what else was causing this awful, empty sensation in the pit of her stomach?

She wanted to cry. She wanted to sob into her pillow, but maybe Pierce would hear her just as she’d heard him. Knowing his sense of…what? Noblesse oblige? She’d read that somewhere, and it just seemed to fit Pierce. Honourable-except when he was talking to his friend and he didn’t think she’d hear.

He’d probably come rushing in to comfort her, and he’d…

Don’t go there. Like barging in and confronting him in fury, it might lead…It might lead…

She sniffed again, but very quietly. A girl had some pride even if she was madly in love with a guy who thought she was an irresponsible twerp.

She’d go.

She’d promised to take Wendy shopping.

Okay, I’ll do that, she told herself. And then I’ll go.

Meanwhile she had to sleep.

She shut her eyes.

The fireplace was just next to her.

Bessy stirred and whimpered, and Pierce whispered into the dark. There were a few more whimpers, a sigh and then the sounds of movement next door.

‘Don’t cry, baby.’ He might just as well have been speaking to Shanni, so immediate was his voice. ‘Hush.’

‘Hush,’ she whispered, echoing into the dark.

‘You’ll be okay,’ Pierce murmured. ‘You have two great sisters and two great brothers. That’s enough family.’

No, it’s not, she felt like yelling, but she didn’t. He didn’t want her input.

He’d kissed her.

Actually, she’d kissed him.

No matter. He’d kissed her back, and he had no business kissing her like that when he didn’t feel like she did. Irresponsibly attracted. Irresistibly attracted.

She groaned, rolled over and buried her head under her pillow.

‘Shanni?’

His voice had her sitting bolt-upright.

‘Yes?’

‘Are you okay?’

‘Why wouldn’t I be okay?’

‘You groaned.’

‘I groaned in my sleep. If you’re going to listen in on every groan…’

‘You groan in your sleep?’

‘I must do. I don’t know. I was asleep.’

‘You sound wide awake now.’

‘I was asleep.’

‘The sound travels really well through these fireplaces.’

‘It must do,’ she said acidly. ‘If you heard me groaning.’

There was a moment’s pause, then a cautious, ‘You really were asleep?’

‘You want a statutory declaration in front of witnesses?’

‘When I phoned…Did you hear…?’

‘I’m going back to sleep.’

‘But…’

‘Goodnight.’

‘Shanni…’

‘Now.’

She lay flat on her back and tugged her pillow back over her face.

Sleep. Right.

What had he said on the phone? He couldn’t remember. Had she heard?

She’d said she was asleep.

He didn’t believe her.

‘Da…’ Bessy said, and Pierce stared down at the infant in confusion.

‘The name’s Pierce,’ he said.

‘Da,’ said Bessy.

‘Pierce,’ said Pierce.

‘Some of us are trying to sleep,’ Shanni said.

‘Da…’

‘Fine,’ Pierce said bitterly, giving up. ‘Call me what you want. Bessy, you talk to Shanni. Shanni, you talk to Bessy.’

‘She’s your daughter,’ Shanni called.

‘Da,’ said Bessy, and grinned.

Help.

Things were closing around him, things he didn’t have a name for. He felt trapped.

Sleep.

Bessy was holding her arms out, pleading to be picked up. The empty fireplace loomed, almost ominously. Shanni was just through there, listening to every sound he made.

‘Okay, Bess,’ he said wearily. ‘Have it your own way. I’ll change your nappy and we’ll both get some sleep, even if it’s in the same bed.’

‘Do paediatricians advise babies should sleep in the same beds as their parents?’ Shanni asked.

‘If you’re the expert, Bessy can sleep with you.’

‘Oh, I’m not an expert,’ she said blithely. ‘I’m an independent spirit. I walk alone. Just like you did before you adopted five kids.’

‘Shanni…’

‘And I’m out of here, just as soon as I’ve taken Wendy shopping,’ she continued. ‘You won’t see me for dust. So you never have to worry about me kissing you again. Irresponsible nuisance…Huh!’