Lifestyles of the Witch & Famous (5 page)

She let go of the twins, briefly, to draw him back against her, but he stepped out of her reach and confronted Tyler. A genuine little David glaring up at Goliath.

“Are you our uncle?” He made it sound like an accusation.

Tyler winced and glanced down, blinking like he’d forgotten for a moment the kids were there. Stupid man. He was the one who’d sent for them. He cleared his throat and planted a warm smile on his face. A little too warm? He was trying too hard. Then he held out his hand in a put-it-there-pardner gesture.

“Yes, I am. And you must be Stevie. I’m very glad you and your brothers are here, son.”

“We’re not. And I’m not
your
son.” Ignoring the offered hand, Stevie turned his back on him.

Tyler’s smile froze, and Molly fought a sudden battle to not feel sorry for him. She lost. Stupid her.

“We don’t like it here!” the twins chimed in unison. “We wanna go home!”

“You’re a dirty bird,” the Myna said.

Unfortunately, he said it in Molly’s voice since that was what she told him every time she cleaned his cage. And Tyler was looking at neither Molly nor the bird when the comment came. So he probably thought…

Wondering if her face now matched her red skirt, Molly opened her mouth to explain.

“Ms. Leigh,” Tyler snapped her off.

A midnight blue stare hit her like a slap, sending sympathy scurrying for cover and making her wish she could scurry after it.

“I’d like to speak to you privately,” he said, not pleasantly. “Now.”

Never mind the explanation. Admiral Byrd had been right on target.

So was Fang.

Molly’s eyes widened. The tomcat was sniffing the lord of the manor’s leg, and she knew what that meant. “Um, Mr. James—”

Too late.

Tyler sputtered and jumped back as Fang sprayed him.

“I guess that tells us what he thinks of you,” offered a new voice. It came from a tall, lanky fellow with tawny hair and a wicked grin, which widened as he strolled forward to stand beside Fang’s newly marked territory.

The “territory” glared at the newcomer. “So why should his opinion be different from anyone else’s?”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed. You’re going over with your usual lead-balloon charm, my man.” He turned his grin to Molly. “Pleased to meet you, Ms. Leigh. I’m Barry Baker. We’ve, ah, spoken on the phone several times.”

“Yes, I remember. I’m prepared to forgive you for that, too.” The phone calls had all been strikeouts, but Barry had fielded them as nicely as he could. Molly returned his grin.

Tyler’s glare darkened. He shot a warning glance at Barry, then leveled his deep blue high-beams on her. A fresh jolt of electricity crackled through her as their gazes locked. She saw anger in his eyes, and…something else. Hurt?

Hunger.

Oh, Goddess…

He held out his hand to her. A very nice hand, Molly noticed. Long fingered and sensitive, but strong. Probably very talented. What would it feel like on…

She swallowed, hard, and booted the thought from her mind.

“Ms. Leigh?” Tyler didn’t tap his foot with impatience, but he might as well have. He looked as though he wanted to tap
her
– with a club maybe. “Our talk?”

“What about it?” Molly rasped out the words, her focus frayed. The intensity in his eyes pulled at her like magnets. It took all her strength to resist. And she wasn’t even sure what, exactly, she was resisting.

“You
have
been demanding a private appointment with me, haven’t you?”

Had she? Oh. Right. Of course she had. Why did that suddenly seem such a not-so-good idea?

She nodded, trying to rake her wits back together. “Yes, but—”

“Well, I’m giving you one. Are you coming with me or not?”

He would use words like
coming
, wouldn’t he? Probably did it on purpose, too. Oh yeah, he knew just what he was doing.

And I don’t.

Molly floundered for an answer. The question really wasn’t
that
difficult. She
had
wanted to confront the lion in his den. She’d been planning on giving him a very large piece of her mind – and had hoped he’d choke on it.

Only now she was tempted to offer him a piece of something else, which wasn’t like her at all. A “private appointment” had lost its appeal. Or, rather, it had gained too much appeal. A different appeal. Dangerous. Before, she hadn’t trusted him. Now she didn’t trust herself.

Besides, the twins were still plastered against her like wallpaper!

She cleared her throat, willing her voice to sound normal. “I’m sorry, but I can’t leave the boys right now. They’re keyed up from the flight and…um, nervous about all this. They need me near.”

Tyler’s mouth pressed into a hard line at mention of the kids. He’d shown no signs of trying to talk to them since they’d rebuffed him. Molly suspected he was afraid to. None of the boys would even look at him.

Unwanted but inescapable, a new twinge of sympathy stung her. True, this was all his fault. He’d brought on their reaction by his own callous behavior, by the dictatorial way he’d brought them here. The man was obviously a tyrant.

But even tyrants must have feelings. This situation was as difficult for him as it was for the rest of them. That was obvious, too.

If only she could decide what to do about it…

They did need to talk. She couldn’t put off the coming confrontation forever. Even after it, even if she was successful, there’d still be details to discuss. She hadn’t figured on just waltzing in and out with the kids. She’d probably be stuck here for at least another day, maybe several.

Molly heaved an inner sigh. “Um, why don’t we set aside tonight for our meeting? After the boys have calmed down. We can do it after I put them to bed.”

Tyler’s mouth relaxed into a small grin, rather devilish. Definitely disconcerting. That counter-offer hadn’t come out sounding quite the way Molly had intended.

“
Doing it
with you tonight sounds very enticing, Ms. Leigh. I’m sure we can manage something along those lines. However, I want to get certain…preliminaries settled between us this afternoon. As in now.”

Of all the…

Her jaw dropped open, then snapped shut. The man
did
realize there were children present, didn’t he? Jeremy and Josh were too young to understand his implication, but Stevie was old for his years and a little too good at spotting innuendos.

She glanced at the boy to see him scowling at Tyler, his small hands balled into fists at his sides. Stevie was rather territorial about his family, and about her in particular. Molly knew he’d outgrow it eventually, but in the meantime it made any inclination she might have toward playing the dating game more hassle than it was worth.

Not that she did have any inclination in that direction. And especially not with someone like the arrogant ass in front of her – and she didn’t care how attractive he was. Well…maybe she did, but she was trying extremely hard not to.

Groan.

Before she could think of a cutting response, Barry stepped into the fray.

“I’ll be happy to watch the boys for you.”

Thanks a heap, Mr. Baker.

Tyler shot him a look. “You wouldn’t watch them when
I
asked you.”

“Of course not.” Barry grinned. “I do plenty for you already.” His gaze shifted to Molly, and he dipped a cavalier bow. “For Ms. Leigh, however, I am more than willing to go above and beyond the call of duty.”

Please
don’t
do me any favors, her narrowed gaze told him.

“Thanks,” she said aloud, “but they’re really not used to strangers, and—”

“He’s very strange,” Tyler interjected.

“Only from spending too much time with you, Oh-Difficult-One,” Barry replied blithely. He gave the boys a big smile – but a genuine smile. Kids could always recognize the real thing. “Hey, guys, I was just about to send down to the kitchen for an ice-cream sundae. Anyone wanna join me?”

An enthusiastic chorus of “Yeah!” answered, and the twins abandoned Molly to run to him.

Marvy. He’d found the magic words. Her brood was as chronically hungry as any healthy, growing boys ever were. They’d stick to him like super glue if they thought he’d feed them.

Molly gave up. They obviously weren’t going to let her delay this, and it was probably just as well she get it over. Surely she could control her hormones for however long it took to convince Tyler to let her retain custody of the kids.

“Okay.” She turned to Barry and the boys, who were giving their ice-cream orders to Hanson to deliver to the kitchen. No doubt the food would arrive back here in gold dishes on a jewel-encrusted tray. “Just make sure those sundaes are
small
ones,” she warned. “Too much sugar and they’ll be wired all night. I’ll never get them to sleep.”

“No problem,” Barry said. “The ice-cream here is actually homemade frozen yogurt with only natural fruit for flavoring and a little raw honey.” He winked. “Ty’s a physical fitness nut.”

“Really?” Her brows rose as she looked at Tyler. Whoever would have guessed they had anything in common?

“I’m not a ‘nut’ about it,” he replied. “But, yes, I do try to take care of my body.”

A sudden gleam in his eye seemed to say,
I bet I could take real good care of your body, too.

Molly’s mouth went dry. In the second of tension that followed, her voice rang out like a bell.

“Kiss-kiss! C’mon, pretty boy, give me a kiss.”

“Amazing.” Tyler looked ever so ready to oblige. “Are you a ventriloquist? I never even saw your lips move.”

And, at the moment, he was staring at them quite intently.

Where was a hole to crawl into when she needed one?

“It was Admiral Byrd,” Molly choked out. “The Myna – one of his tricks. I say ‘kiss-kiss,’ then put a bit of food between my lips, and he’ll take it out with his beak.”

“Sounds like fun.” Slowly, Tyler leaned toward her. His breath blew out warm and minty with his words. Why had she never noticed before what a sexy aroma mint was? “I have some sunflower seeds in my office, if you’d care to demonstrate, Ms. Leigh.”

Oh boy,
would
she.

No.
Molly jerked back as she realized she’d been drifting forward to meet him, her mouth parted in readiness, her breasts almost grazing his chest. And right in front of the kids! She was really losing it.

Pulling in a deep breath to steady herself, she glanced over her shoulder at the three boys. They were busy putting Fluffy the Wonder Dog through his repertoire of tricks (all two of them) for Barry Baker, and hadn’t noticed her and Tyler.

Thank Goddess.

They all seemed fine without her, and Barry seemed to have everything under control. He obviously had a way with kids. Relieved, Molly turned back to Tyler, only to see him striding for the far door he’d entered from.

Huh?

He’d refused to delay their meeting, demanded she accompany him
now
, yet he was leaving without her? What was his problem? From the way he walked – more of a stalk actually – he looked angry about something. Angry with her?

Yeah, well, she expected him to be angry before their impending confrontation was over. But she hadn’t even started to read him the riot act yet.

Molly hesitated a moment, staring after him, studying the rigid line of his back, the grim set to his shoulders as he exited the pool area. She read him like a billboard.

He wasn’t angry. He was hurt.

Damn.

She glanced again at the boys hanging around Barry like he was Father Goose, like he was their long-lost relative or something. Tyler was the real long-lost relative, and her trio had spurned him flat-out. He might have expected them to be clinging to her, but it must have been a rough blow to see them take so instantly to someone as much a stranger to them as himself.

Oh, hell…

Knowing she was probably making a big mistake, Molly hurried after him.

The door Tyler had left by opened into something that looked like a grand ballroom, fully outfitted with an orchestra balcony at one end, a sweeping staircase at the other, and crystal chandeliers the size of Australia. Simply by crossing a threshold, she’d gone from “Strangers In Paradise” to “Shall We Dance.”

Except there was no music playing, no couples in courtly dress waltzing over the parquet floor. Just the hollow echo of Tyler’s footsteps as his stride ate up the length of the room. A big, extravagant emptiness with nothing to fill it but a lone and lonely looking man.

“Mr. James?” Molly ran to catch up.

He stopped at the foot of the stairs and turned to meet her – slowly – resting one hand on the end of the banister and sliding the other into his pants’ pocket. A casual, unconcerned pose.

And Molly wasn’t fooled for a minute. She looked up into eyes that stabbed her like a knife, sharp pain in their depths.
Poor little rich boy.
He had so much, and it meant so little. What good was all the wealth in the world if you had no one to share it with?