“I called my cousin Rafe. His construction crew will be out here on Friday. They’re checking for termites while they’re at it, since these old cottages are like an all-you-can-eat buffet for those bugs—”
“Dam— Darn it, Colt,” she corrected herself quickly with a guilty glance at the babies sitting close by. They would be talking soon and she didn’t want them picking up the wrong words. “I don’t want you doing this.”
“When the first rain hits, you’ll thank me,” he assured her.
When she first woke up this morning, Penny had actually felt better. Less sore, less tired. Now, she felt as though she needed to go back to bed. If she slept long enough, maybe he would be gone when she woke up again. But even as that idle wish floated through her mind, she set it free because she knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Colt wouldn’t leave until he was good and ready. And when he did go, there would be no stopping him.
Drawing out the chair beside him, she eased down into it and looked him dead in the eye. “You can’t just come into my life and reorder it to suit yourself.”
“I paid some bills,” he said. “You obviously need the money and I can afford it, so what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is that I pay my own way.” Silently, she gave herself a cheer for remaining very cool and logical. “I take care of myself and my family.”
He looked at her through serious, cool blue eyes. “But that’s the thing, isn’t it? The twins are my family, too.”
Her heart iced over and her stomach sank. This is what she’d been afraid of. That Colt would find out about the twins and immediately claim them. Brush her aside—or steamroller her—and take what he wanted.
A bank of clouds rushed across the sun, sending an intermittent mix of light and shadow into the kitchen. The twins were babbling happily to each other and for the first time, Penny didn’t wonder what they were saying, or if they could understand each other. She was too busy trying to understand the subtext of what Colt was saying.
Was he laying claim to his children? Was he already laying the groundwork for pushing Penny out of her babies’ lives? Fear became a knot in the center of her chest. For most of her life, she’d taken care of herself. She’d solved her own problems, made her own happiness. Now her life was suddenly out of her control and she didn’t have a clue how to deal with it. The one thing she did know was that she wouldn’t surrender. Not without a fight.
She kept her voice low and calm when she asked, “Colt, what is it you’re after? Just tell me flat out what you expect to happen.”
He leaned in toward her, flashed a quick look at the babies, then shifted his gaze back to her. Cloud shadow moved over his features, making his eyes look more distant, more...mysterious.
“I expect my kids to be well taken care of. To have what they need.”
“They do,” she argued in a choked whisper. Hadn’t she been working herself nonstop to ensure just that? She might be a little late on her bills, but they all would have been paid. Eventually. And her kids didn’t want for anything. “The twins are healthy and they’re happy.”
She reached out and laid one hand on his forearm. She let him go again instantly and regretted touching him at all, because a zing of reaction shot from her hand, up her arm, to ricochet around the inside of her chest like a ball of heat. That overpowering attraction they’d shared right from the start was obviously alive and well and now throbbing deep inside her. Ignoring her body’s clamoring need, she swore, “They’ll never go without.”
“You’re right about that,” he said and leaned back in his chair again. He looked every inch a King—in name and profession—lounging comfortably as if he hadn’t a care in the world. While Penny sat opposite him, her stomach churning, her mind racing.
This was what it was to be as wealthy as God, she told herself. Colt was so used to being able to command whatever he wanted done, he didn’t even think about it. He’d ordered a new roof for her house as easily as she bought a gallon of milk.
Somehow, over the last eighteen months, she’d managed to forget that easy arrogance he carried with him. She’d forgotten that his way of life was so different from hers that they might as well have lived on different planets.
“Don’t try to fight me on this, Penny,” he warned. “You’ll lose.”
“Don’t be so sure,” she countered with more confidence than she felt. What could she possibly do in a battle with one of the Kings of California? He had a fleet of lawyers at his beck and call and a bank account that was endless. If this ended up going to court, then she didn’t stand a chance against him and she knew it. So what she had to do was make sure it never went before a judge. She couldn’t trust that the courts would choose a mother’s love over a father who could support the twins so easily.
“Really?” he asked, clearly amused. “You think you can take me on?”
Oh, there was more than one meaning to that question. She knew, because her body started buzzing and heat sizzled in his eyes, melting the ice. Penny dropped her gaze from his because she didn’t want him to see what he could do to her so easily. She only wished it was as simple to hide her reactions from herself.
“I’ve done something else this morning that you should probably know about,” he said.
She swallowed hard, hoping her voice wouldn’t sound choked when she said, “What’s left?”
“You know your bills are all current now, but I’ve also transferred money into your bank account—”
“You what?”
He smiled. “I transferred money into your account.”
Her blood pressure had to be through the roof because she could actually hear her heartbeat in her ears. “How much money?”
One eyebrow lifted. “Greedy?”
“Appalled,” she corrected.
He shrugged. “Most women would be delighted to have a half million dollars dropped into their bank accounts.”
“A half—” Penny gulped noisily and then blinked as the room spun around her. Her vision narrowed, black rushing in from the edges even as little dark dots danced merrily in front of her. “Half. Half...”
“Breathe, Penny,” he suggested.
She wished she could, but her lungs weren’t working. Shock had her blinking furiously trying to clear her vision even as she slapped one hand to her chest as if she could somehow jump-start a heart that had clearly stopped. The man was insane. And pushy. And generous. And infuriating.
She opened and closed her mouth on words that wouldn’t come. Gasping now, Penny knew she was going to end this “conversation” in a dead faint.
“Damn it,” he muttered, then leaned out, put his hand on the back of her head and pushed her forward, until her head was between her knees. “Breathe before you pass out.”
She drew in breath after breath and still her chest felt tight and her head was spinning. Penny felt him thread his fingers through her hair, and his touch sent new nerves skittering along her spine. Wasn’t it enough that he’d sent her brain into a tailspin? Did he have to do the same to her body? His closeness wasn’t making it any easier to breathe.
As if from a distance, she heard the twins laughing and she fought hard against the dizzying sensation clouding her head. Thankfully, they were too young to know just what exactly their daddy could do to their mommy.
When she was able to draw a few deep breaths, she forced herself to say, “Fine. I’m fine, let me up.” Once she was sitting up again, she took another breath for good measure and met his gaze. She scowled