Eternal Vows (Hideaway (Kimani)) (18 page)

“Okay, Auntie Peyton.”

Nicholas stood off to the side watching Peyton’s interaction with the fretful little girl. She’d remained calm and in control of the situation. A smile curved his mouth when she handed the sleeping infant boy to his mother, then took Lynette’s hand, leading her back to the kiddie table with seating for six and sat down. The sight of her sitting at the table with the triplets and Ryan’s young son and daughter would have been laughable if she’d been a lot taller. His gaze lingered on the braid tied with a black ribbon. Peyton had exchanged the sundress for a white tailored shirt, black stretch cuffed slacks and black strappy stilettos.

“Cookie wants to know if you’re ready for us to begin serving.”

Nicholas turned around. One of the stable hands who did double duty as a waiter for dinner waited for his reply. The young man’s spiked coal-black hair still shimmered with moisture from his recent shower. It hadn’t taken a week but everyone quickly learned that Jackson Hubbard aka Cookie ran his kitchen and dining hall like a drill sergeant. Those recruited to stand in as waiters were required to shave and shower each night before entering the dining hall. Nicholas had been so busy greeting his guests he hadn’t taken the time to sit down and eat his salad or the appetizer of miniature empanadas filled with chicken and beef.

“Yes, Riccardo.”

Nicholas told Jackson he was master and commander when it came to the dining hall. He was to set the rules and Nicholas would reinforce them if or when any of the employees refused to comply. The talented cook served a hot and cold breakfast, offered a buffet lunch of homemade soups, mixed salads and a variety of sandwiches using leftover meat from the prior night’s dinner. The men had come to favor the paninis made with a variety of homemade breads. The grilled sandwiches were concocted with meat, cheese, sweet and hot peppers, mushrooms and fruit and veggies.

Jackson had admitted preparing three meals for less than twenty was a cakewalk compared to the hundreds he’d served in his family-owned restaurant. Every night he put up loaves of homemade breads much to the delight of everyone. Even Eugenia was impressed with the man’s culinary skills because he eschewed store-bought sauces and salad dressings. Mayonnaises and pesto, oven-roasted tomatoes and caramelized onions were the most requested condiments.

Nicholas had hoped Peyton would join him at the table with Sheldon, Renee, Kelly, Ryan, Tricia and Jeremy but he’d lost her to the kiddie table. When he’d invited the Blackstones for dinner he’d asked one of the workers to drive into Waynesboro to purchase the round table and chairs. The few children living on the farm would sit with their parents during mealtimes.

Waiters, wearing pristine white bib aprons, wheeled serving carts into the dining hall. Cookie had prepared Puerto Rican roast pork shoulder, baked chicken, green plantain chips accompanied by a garlic dipping sauce, white rice and black beans, and corn bread with scallions and bacon. Another cart was wheeled in with carafes of chilled rum punch; sweet tea, water and natural fruit juice were set out on each table.

Eugenia walked in glancing around and Nicholas beckoned to his housekeeper. “You can sit with us.”

The woman flashed a rare smile, the gesture lighting up her face. “Thank you.”

Pulling out a chair, he seated Eugenia. Nicholas had grown up in a house with a live-in staff, and at no time had any of them crossed the invisible social delineation between employer and employee. He’d changed that when he insisted the people who worked for him call him Nicholas rather than Mr. Thomas. He’d also instituted an open-door policy where he welcomed and entertained suggestions and dealt with grievances. Many of the diners bowed their heads in silent prayer before filling their plates with the mouthwatering fare.

* * *

Peyton felt as if she were sitting in a restaurant rather than a common dining hall. There were cloth-covered tables with seating for two, four, six or eight. Hi-hats and wrought-iron ceiling light fixtures, pre-recorded music coming through hidden speakers and potted palms, cactus and framed black-and-white photos of champion Thoroughbreds positioned on the brick walls set the stage for casual, relaxed dining. She’d witnessed firsthand what Nicholas had bragged about. One bite of the moist, flavorful roast pork and she curbed the urge to moan in ecstasy. The infusion of spices made it indescribable.

Michaela chewed a mouthful of rice. “This is good, Auntie.”

“Yes it is, baby.”

Lynette stabbed a crisp plantain. “I like the bananas. Do you like the bananas, Auntie?”

Peyton smiled at the child. “I love bananas, Lynn.” The flavor of the fried green bananas was intensified when she topped it with the sauce made of diced garlic, Spanish onion, salt, olive oil, white vinegar and citrus juice. “Use both hands when you pick up your milk,” she reminded Elena.

For Peyton, moving to Cole-Thom was akin to downsizing. It was much smaller, a little more than one square mile when compared to Blackstone’s fifteen. She would interact with less than twenty residents when Blackstone’s was closer to fifty. She would be responsible for a dozen horses instead of three dozen. Securing a position as a resident vet, living in a house that afforded her ultimate privacy and Nicholas were a plus, and not necessarily in that order.

She met Nicholas’s intent stare across the room. His fork was poised in midair, and now Peyton understood what Caroline had been talking about. Peyton blew him a kiss, and Nicholas froze, mouth gaping in shock. She was truly looking forward to their poker game later that evening.

Nicholas recovered quickly, running his tongue over his lower lip. It was her turn to be stunned by the unabashed erotic gesture. She lowered her gaze before someone noticed their silent sex play. Vivienne patted her arm, and Peyton shifted her attention to Ryan’s seven-year-old daughter.

“What is it, Vivi?”

“May I have another piece of corn bread?”

She kissed the girl’s neatly braided hair. “Of course.”

Peyton focused on the children at the table, refilling their glasses and passing dishes when they asked for additional portions. She didn’t meet Nicholas’s eyes again until dessert and coffee were served.

She busied herself checking the faces of the children at the table, instructing them to use their napkins to wipe away any traces of food. Peyton hugged each of them before they ran to their parents. She stood there, feeling a sense of loss, and at that moment reality hit her full force. All that she wanted since she decided to become an equine veterinarian was real, too real.

It was only now that Peyton realized working for her family was a safety net. The responsibility of seeing to the medical and physical needs of the horses hadn’t been hers but Ryan’s, and she began to second-guess herself. Could she really do this?

“If you don’t stop chewing your lip it’s going to look like a piece of raw meat.”

She closed her eyes when Nicholas’s breath swept over her ear. “I was just thinking about something.”

He chuckled. “A penny for your thoughts.”

Shifting, she turned to face him. “I’m afraid a penny wouldn’t begin to pay for it.”

Nicholas came closer without moving. “How much then?”

“Too much.”

“I’m hardly a pauper.”

Peyton smiled, exhibiting straight, white teeth. “You will be after I take you for all you have in our poker game.”

Nicholas laughed, the sound bubbling up from his throat until he doubled over, bringing the others in the room to look at him. “If you think I’m going to let a little slip of a woman wipe me out, then you need to be committed.”

“Eight o’clock. My place.” That said, Peyton turned on her heels and strutted over to Tricia.

“I should warn you that she’s very outspoken, Nick.”

He gave Ryan a sidelong glance. “Word,” he drawled.

“My cousin is smart,” Ryan said softly. “She’s a lot smarter than she realizes. She sleeps, eats and breathes veterinary medicine. Kelly and Tricia have tried to get her interested in some of the men from the other farms but she acts like they don’t exist. There are times when I don’t blame her for being turned off. Any woman would if they found out their husband was a horse’s ass.”

A fist of fear squeezed Nicholas’s heart. He didn’t want to believe he was going after a married woman. “She’s married?”

Ryan shook his head. “Nah. She got rid of him when he screwed up big-time. They weren’t married a year when she filed for divorce.”

Nicholas blew out an inaudible sigh of relief. Is that what Peyton meant when she said he didn’t know her? He hadn’t known she’d been married and divorced. “There’s no use in hanging on to something doomed for failure.” The moment the words rolled off his tongue Nicholas knew he was referring to his relationship with Arden. He’d known when he met her that they were complete opposites but he’d thought himself so much in love that he could change her mind. It ended when he was the one forced to accept what really couldn’t be changed and move on.

“I promised your father that I was going to take good care of her, and I’m promising you the same.”

Ryan’s lids came down, hiding his innermost feelings. “You like my cousin, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

His hand came down on Nicholas’s shoulder, his fingers tightening. “I like you, Nick, but please don’t mess her over.”

Nicholas flung off the vet’s hand. How was he going to mess over a woman when what he was beginning to feel for her went a lot deeper than liking. “I don’t take kindly to threats.”

“It’s not a threat. I just don’t want to see her hurt again.”

“I’m not going to hurt her, Ryan. You have my word on that.”

Dark gray eyes met a pair so dark it was impossible to see their depths. “I’m glad we understand each other.”

For a reason he couldn’t fathom Nicholas didn’t feel like being gracious, not when Ryan had implied he was going to hurt Peyton. “It’s me that needs to be understood. Thank you for coming.” He walked away before he said something he would come to regret, unaware Peyton had watched the interchange between him and her cousin.

One by one he thanked the Blackstones for coming. He patted Sheldon’s back. “There’s an open invitation for you to come back any time you wish.”

Jeremy affected a Cheshire-cat grin. “We won’t have to come back if we can lure your cook away.”

“Forget it, Jeremy,” Nicholas retorted, “you can’t afford Cookie.”

“I think if I juggle a few numbers I may be able to come up with enough to make a reasonable offer.”

A sly smile parted Nicholas’s lips. “Not if I call my brother and have him advance me a few million from the family’s business account.”

Jeremy twisted his mouth. “Damn, Thomas. You fight dirty.”

“No, I don’t. I’m only protecting what belongs to me.”

A network of lines fanned out around Sheldon’s eyes when he smiled. “Come on, Jeremy. Stop busting Nicholas’s hump. He’s not giving up his cook, so let it rest. By the way, Nicholas, you picked a good one. Let Cookie know he’s awesome.”

“Thanks, Sheldon. I’ll be certain to let him know.”

The Blackstones left and within minutes all of the tables were cleared, wiped down and the floor vacuumed. Nicholas noticed Eugenia walking in the direction of the kitchen. She didn’t drive and he wanted to know if she wanted him to take her back to the house.

He looked around for Peyton but it was apparent she’d left. It didn’t matter. She wasn’t going anywhere. He knew exactly where to find her.

Chapter 15

P
eyton lay on the cushioned wicker love seat, a blue- and-white throw pillow under her head and a matching one under her bare feet. She stared up at the slow-moving blades of the ceiling fan. The cooling air coming off the fan and the warm breeze filtering through the screen stirred the wind chime, creating bell-like sounds that carried easily in the hushed silence of the approaching dusk.

Sitting on the porch waiting for nightfall had become a magical moment for her. Lengthening shadows, the occasional thrill of a bird and gentle rustle of leaves made her feel as if she’d been transported to an enchanted forest with mythical creatures hiding behind trees, bushes and in flowerbeds surrounding the cottage.

She’d walked barefoot back to her cottage instead of accepting a ride because she’d overeaten. Peyton estimated the distance between her house and the dining hall to be about one-tenth of a mile. The walk not only served to help aid her digestion but gave her time alone to think about what she wanted from Nicholas other than employment.

Although they weren’t officially a couple there was history between them. In fact she knew Nicholas longer than she had Reginald when she married him. If Caroline said Nicholas had the hots for her, then it was the same with her. There wasn’t anything about Nicholas she didn’t like or want, and she wondered if they would’ve become involved last year if she had not accepted the offer to teach in Alabama. Shifting in a more comfortable position, she closed her eyes, willing her mind blank.

Peyton lost track of time as she dozed off and on and then sat up, suddenly alert when she heard the sound of an approaching engine. Pushing off the love seat, she peered through the screen. The sweep of headlights lit up the landscape before the dark-colored sedan came to a stop under the carport.

She held the screen door open as Nicholas mounted the three steps to the porch.
“Bienvenida.”

“Gracias.”
Nicholas dipped his head and kissed her cheek. His gaze lingered on her face because he didn’t trust himself to look below her neck. She should’ve been arrested for indecency. The tank top and shorts exposed more than it concealed. He didn’t stare, but leered at her chest.

Peyton angled her head. “Are you ready to lose your shirt?”

“I didn’t know we were playing strip poker.”

“We’re not,” she said, locking the screen door. “I was using it as a metaphor. What did you bring?”

Nicholas held up a burl rosewood box and a decorative shopping bag. “Cards, chips, a bottle of red wine, two wineglasses and a corkscrew.”

Peyton smiled. “Nice.”

He waited for her to enter the house, then followed her inside. He stopped, glancing around the living/dining room, unable to believe how much it had been transformed. Table lamps, turned to the lowest setting, cast a soft golden glow against off-white walls.

“I can’t believe what you’ve done here.” He was unable to disguise the awe in his voice.

“You can look around if you want,” Peyton suggested.

Nicholas set the box down on a glass-topped coffee table. Peyton had used a discerning eye when she decorated the cottage, playing off the black-and-white color scheme with accessories in splashes of gray and robin’s-egg-blue. Small glass cubes filled with black marbles and rocks lined the countertop, breaking up the pristine white and stainless-steel kitchen.

He walked into the bedroom, stopping in the doorway. Nicholas had accused Peyton of being a romantic and his assessment was validated by the white eyelet dust ruffle, pillow shams, white and black duvet, pinstriped, hound’s tooth and checkered-and-white lace-trimmed sheets, pillowcases and sheets. Lighted candles in decorative holders flickered in the semidark space.

A vivid picture of them in bed together, limbs entwined and writhing in ecstasy sent his libido into overdrive; the blood rushed to his groin and the flesh between his legs hardened so quickly he suddenly experienced light-headedness. Walking on shaky legs, Nicholas lay facedown on the bed, waiting for his hard-on to go down.

Suddenly it all made sense. For more than a year he’d ignored Peyton, pretending she did not fit the image of his ideal woman; she was too short, petite and too blonde for his personal tastes, but none of that mattered because somehow she’d managed to slip under the wall he’d erected to keep women from getting too close. There was no way he wanted to be that vulnerable again.

“What are you doing?”

Peyton’s voice seemed disembodied, as if it came from a long way off. “I have a situation.” Nicholas’s words were muffled in the duvet.

“What kind of situation?” Peyton asked as she approached the bed.

“I was feeling light-headed.”

The mattress dipped slightly when she sat beside him. “What’s the matter?”

Nicholas had to decide whether to lie to her or tell her the truth. He didn’t want to start whatever relationship he’d hoped to have with her based on lies. “I have a hard-on.”

Peyton clapped a hand over her mouth. Shock had rendered her speechless. When Nicholas said he was light-headed she thought maybe there was something physically wrong with him. She lay on her back beside him. Reaching for his hand, she wound their fingers together.

“Does it happen often?”

Lifting his head slightly, he looked at her delicate profile. “Not usually.”

Shifting slightly, Peyton turned to face him. “You have problems achieving an erection?”

Nicholas looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “No! I have a problem controlling my erection because of you.”

“You’re blaming me for your loss of control?”

“Yes, I am. When I walked in here and saw the bed all I thought of was making love to you.”

Peyton closed her eyes as a warming desire washed over her like an electric current. “I’m not going to pretend that I haven’t fantasized about making love to you, Nicholas. Why you? I don’t know, because it hasn’t been that way with other men.”

“Not even your husband?”

An instant chill replaced the sudden warmth and she snatched her hand away. “Who told you I was married?”

Nicholas turned over, not caring whether she saw the bulge straining against the fly of his jeans. “Ryan happened to mention it.” There was enough light coming from the candlelight to see her wildly fluttering eyelids.

“What did he say?”

“That your ex was a horse’s ass.”

“I wouldn’t insult a horse like that. He’s more like a slug.”

Nicholas rested his hand on her jaw. “What did he do to you?”

Peyton told him everything, from when she’d returned to the States to enroll in Cornell for graduate courses to meeting Reginald at an after-work party at a club in Ithaca, New York. “I guess you could say I’d led a rather sheltered life, because even though Reggie was only two years older than me he seemed so erudite. We’d dated for a month when he asked me to marry him.”

“How old were you, sweetheart?” Nicholas asked.

“Twenty-three.”

“You were very young.”

“I was old enough to know better than to hook up with a man I’d known exactly four weeks. I agreed and we eloped. When my father found out he was furious.”

“How about his parents?”

“They were pleased that their only child had found someone. I must say my parents and his got along well.”

Nicholas pressed a kiss to Peyton’s forehead. His erection had finally gone down. “Why did you break up?”

“He called, asking me to wire him bail money. At first I thought he may have been jailed for speeding or maybe even resisting arrest because he has a quick temper. He wouldn’t tell me what he’d been charged with and I told him I wasn’t sending him one copper penny until he told me the truth. He then claimed the vice unit had entrapped him but when I threatened to hang up he admitted he’d solicited a prostitute.” Nicholas’s exhalation of breath came out in a swooshing sound. “You have no idea how dirty I felt when he told me it wasn’t the first time he’d paid for sex. I hung up on him, then packed my books and clothes and moved out.”

“Where was he arrested?”

“Central Florida. He eventually got in touch with his parents who wired him the money. That’s when I found out it wasn’t the first time they’d bailed him out. He had an arrest record dating back to his adolescence, all of them misdemeanors. When I confronted my in-laws about his criminal history they said they’d hoped he would change once he was married. Apparently they were wrong because he didn’t and couldn’t change.”

“What was he doing in Florida if you guys lived in New York?”

“He was there to recruit personnel for his father’s PMC.”

Nicholas’s forehead furrowed. “Are you talking about private military companies?”

“Yes. My former father-in-law has contracts with the State Department and with several other national governments training soldiers and reorganizing militaries in several African countries, and unfortunately Reginald never lived up to his father’s expectations. His parents were his built-in safety net and whenever he got into trouble they were there to clean up the mess.”

“It sounds like he never grew up.”

Peyton closed her eyes. “He didn’t.” And he still hasn’t, she thought. She didn’t want to talk about Reginald because it conjured up past hurt, but she had to unburden herself. “The first thing I did after moving out was to get tested. Thankfully it came back negative, but I didn’t want to believe it so I took it several more times over the next year and they also came back negative. There are times when I still feel dirty—”

Nicholas pressed a kiss over one eye, then the other. “Shush, baby. You’re not dirty.

“You know I want to make love to you, but I don’t want to take advantage of your vulnerability. We
are
going to make love. Where? Either in this bed or in mine. Why? Because I
want
and
need
you that much. When? That will be up to you. But it can’t happen until you learn to trust me. I’ve never been able to sleep with more than one woman at the same time, so that rules out me cheating on you.”

Peyton was so overcome with emotion she felt like crying. Nicholas was offering her everything she wanted and needed since her marriage ended. He was giving her time to heal emotionally. Tricia and Kelly didn’t understand why she’d been reluctant to date, even after she told them she wasn’t ready for a relationship, especially not with men whose focus was getting her into bed.

If Nicholas hadn’t been ready for a relationship the year before it had been the same with her. Now she was ready, ready to move forward with her professional and personal life. She didn’t know what the future held for her and Nicholas yet that wasn’t as important as where they’d come from. A year ago Peyton never could’ve imagined sharing a bed with Nicholas even if they weren’t making love.

“Did she cheat on you?”

The seconds ticked. Nicholas knew he had to tell Peyton about his aborted engagement if he wanted an open and healthy relationship with her. That was something he hadn’t had with Arden.

“No,” Nicholas said after a pregnant pause. “It would’ve been more acceptable if she had.”

“What did she do?”

He pulled Peyton closer, her head resting on his shoulder. “I grew up wanting to be like one of my uncles who’d gone to West Point. When it came time for me to select a military academy I applied to Annapolis and was accepted. I graduated and volunteered for the submarine fleet. A week later I met Arden at a buddy’s birthday party. I definitely wasn’t a novice when it came to dealing with women, but there was something about her that was so different from the other women I’d known, and that summer we dated exclusively. When she discovered I would be away for months at a time she said she was afraid of losing me, and to prove that wasn’t going to happen I asked her to marry me.”

“How long were you engaged?”

“A year and a half.”

“Why so long, Nicholas?”

“We were separated more than we were together the first year. I was looking forward to an extended shore leave because I’d promised her I would become more involved in planning the wedding. I was also glad to be home because it would give me time to ride my bike. When you’re closed up in a sub months at a time all you want when you dock is to have the wind in your face.”

“Where was home?” Peyton asked.

“Palm Beach, Florida. One morning I went riding and everything changed when a car filled with teenagers who’d been drinking blew past a stop sign and hit me head-on. I was thrown about fifty feet and they spun out of control crashing into a utility pole. Two of the five kids died at the scene while the others were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries.”

Peyton caught the front of Nicholas’s T-shirt, holding it in a punishing grip. “Were you wearing a helmet?”

He nodded. “Yes. That’s what saved my life even though I had serious head trauma, a spinal-cord injury and two broken legs. I was placed in a medically induced coma for more than a month. During this time doctors weren’t certain if I’d ever walk again. Apparently Arden thought the same and she sent back my ring with a note saying she wasn’t equipped to spend her life with a cripple.

“I knew something was wrong when I came out of the coma and Arden wasn’t there. I was finally transferred to a rehab facility and that’s when I realized she wasn’t coming. The psychiatrist told my parents not to tell me about Arden’s abandonment because it would negatively impact my physical and emotional recovery.”

“When did you find out she wasn’t coming back?”

“I was about seven months into my recovery when I stopped looking and waiting for her to walk through the door. Getting my legs to work was a lot easier than getting my brain to work because of cognitive impairment. There were times when I would have to grope for simple words. I’d remember faces but not names.”

“How long did it take you to recover?”

“I don’t know. It was as if I’d lost track of time. I remember the accident but I couldn’t pinpoint exactly when I’d recovered my memory. One day everything was foggy, and then I remembered everything. My request for a medical discharge was approved and I found myself a civilian for the first time in years. I moved back with my parents and that’s when I found Arden’s note and the ring.”