for a road, could he? Murders around here tended to be drug related, but that didn't make sense either. Old Man Pfeiffer wasn't exactly the sort to deal in drugs.
Glancing at the knee-deep clutter surrounding him, Axell took a deep breath and ordered the pounding in his pants to cool. Remembering Maya's willingness, he couldn't summon much eagerness for the clean-up. Maybe once she got the kids quieted...
Cursing Selene, phones, and his rotten timing, he stalked upstairs to the part of the house Maya had claimed for her own.
She wouldn't buy a damned thing for herself, but he noticed she had no such compunction about buying for the kids. A six-foot Big Bird greeted him as he turned the corner, buttoning his shirt. Brilliantly colored art prints from the Madeline books and others of knights and dragons adorned simple frames in between the bedrooms. He'd stumbled over enough stacks of books in previous ventures into this territory to know to tread warily. He couldn't imagine how he'd once thought these rooms empty and without life. They scarcely seemed big enough to contain all the energy bouncing around in them.
Not knowing whether to be irritated or happy at the discovery, Axell sought the sound of Maya's voice. No one had ever driven him over the brink of sexual frustration as she had. His loss of control frightened him, heightening his irascibility. She'd damned well taunted him into that scene—in the kitchen, for pity's sake! The kids could have walked in at any time.
He flushed at the thought of literally being caught with his pants down. The only other time in his life he'd ever been so incautious was to believe Angela when she'd told him she had used protection. He'd almost made the same mistake again. Although, if he was being rational about this, he'd have to figure Maya wasn't in any hurry to get pregnant. She didn't need to. They were already married.
His head hurt with all the conflicting issues rampaging around inside. Discovering Maya in her room, rocking a whimpering infant and reassuring Matty in a low voice, Axell leaned against the doorjamb and just let it all go for a moment. He couldn't do anything about old man Pfeiffer or Mayor Arnold or the Mid-East crisis at this hour. His concern now was getting Maya into his bed so he could release some of this tension. Then he'd worry about getting to the bottom of their problems.
"I think Alexa has a fever," Maya whispered over Matty's head.
That shot his ship down fast enough.
* * *
After a night of walking the floor with a crying baby, Axell wasn't in a humor for cock-and-bull stories.
"Even I know that's ridiculous," he shouted the next afternoon at Headley's latest gossip. He never shouted. Resting his head in his hands, he propped his elbows on his desk and wondered when his life had taken this bent direction. He didn't have to wonder. He knew.
"It's either the mayor or that New York developer he's connected with," Headley replied with assurance, appropriating a seat on the couch without being asked. "I've done my homework. Ralph's invested heavily in that real estate corporation owned by the Yankees. This is their first big project. They've got some condos near town in the blueprint stage, and they've acquired land for townhouse apartments. They need the cash flow from that shopping center."
"Shit." Axell sat back and stared out his window. He really didn't want the mayor's job. He'd just thrown out the threat to smack Ralph into line. But apartments and condos weren't the kind of lifestyle he wanted for Wadeville. The bastard.
He took a deep breath to clear the cobwebs. "That doesn't make Ralph a murderer. That's preposterous. Pfeiffer has a hundred and one relatives waiting with bated breath for his demise. Any one of them could have been desperate enough to hurry him on."
"They've not determined the cause of death yet," Headley reminded him. "That noxious brood of Pfeiffer's are the gun-and-knife toting sort. The sheriff would damned well know the cause if they were involved."
Axell pinched the bridge of his nose. "Speculation will get us nowhere. I've got lawyers reading over the terms of Maya's lease, but we have to start considering alternatives. No place else is as convenient to the houses out there, and land prices are too exorbitant to consider buying anything. She'll be turning my house into a home school if I don't do something soon."