Nathan's Child - By Anne McAllister Page 0,48

you thought of me sitting here by myself with no food in the house,” he said in a mock falsetto as he walked right past her into the kitchen and began opening her cabinets.

“I do, too, have food in the house!”

“Not according to Lacey.” He got out plates, set them on the table, opened a drawer, took out silverware and began dishing up lunch.

Lacey was a traitor, Carin thought grimly. They had some food in the house, and Maurice would have gone shopping for her.

“Lacey is a picky eater,” she grumbled.

“Good thing you’re not,” Nathan said cheerfully. “Otherwise these conch fritters and cole slaw would be going to waste.” He plunked several fritters on her plate and added a dollop of cole slaw alongside them, then sat down and began to eat.

He was back again at dinner. And the next day it was exactly the same. She might as well not have moved out at all. Nathan was bound and determined to make them dependent on him.

Lacey was already under his spell. And Carin knew that she only had so much resistance. If he kept this up, she was afraid she would be in danger of succumbing.

She couldn’t allow it!

And she could just sit here and hope that his work would take him away. Undoubtedly eventually it would—but not soon enough.

So if he wouldn’t leave, she would.

She had told Stacia she wasn’t coming to New York, but now it sounded like a very good idea.

It would be a treat for Lacey, who had been all for it from the moment the show had been proposed. It would make Stacia happy. And given what—or rather, who—she was facing here, dealing with millions of New Yorkers seemed far less stressful.

She called Stacia and said she would come.

“Well, you’ve seen sense at last. Hooray. I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Wonderful. Thanks.” She didn’t say a word about Nathan.

She didn’t say a word to Nathan, either.

She didn’t want him deciding to come along. This was her trip—hers and Lacey’s. And if she felt the tiniest bit guilty because his photos were in the show, too—and had in fact saved the show for her—well, he’d had other shows, and she needed some space.

She didn’t even say anything to Lacey about the trip. She didn’t want her telling Nathan. Besides, she wanted it to be a surprise.

She only told Hugh because she needed him to take them to Nassau. “Bright and early Monday morning,” she said.

She didn’t say they needed to leave early because she wanted to be gone before Nathan showed up.

On Monday morning she got Lacey up early.

“It’s barely six,” Lacey grumbled. “Dad didn’t say he was coming early today.”

“It’s nothing to do with your father,” Carin said. “Come on. Get up. It’s a surprise.”

Lacey rubbed her eyes, looking disgruntled, then curious. “A suprise? What kind of surprise?” But she was dragging herself out of bed.

“You’ll see.”

Now that they were actually going, Carin was feeling excited, too. She’d packed a bag for each of them last night after Lacey was asleep, then called Fiona and asked her to feed Zeno while they were gone.

Now, when Lacey came downstairs and saw the bags sitting by the door, she looked at her mother, wide-eyed. “We’re going on a trip? Where are we going? Are we going to New York?”

“Wait and see,” Carin said, smiling, as Hugh pulled up out front.

“Are we going to Nassau?” Lacey pressed.

“You’ll see,” Carin said. “You’ll love it.”

But she had no idea how thrilled Lacey would be—or how shocked she would be—when they got to the landing field and Nathan was standing by the helicopter, grinning at them!

Carin opened her mouth as he opened the door of Hugh’s car and winked at her.

“No arguments. Not in front of Lacey.”

It had been sheer luck that Stacia had called his place to talk to Carin about the arrangements for the trip to New York. Obviously, she’d thought Carin and Lacey were still living with him.

“Trip?” Nathan had echoed when she’d rung.

“For the opening. It’s next week, you know. I was badgering her to come and she kept saying no. Then, all of a sudden she finally said yes. I suppose,” she’d added, “I have you to thank for that.”

Very likely, yes, Nathan thought grimly.

“She didn’t mention if you were coming, too,” Stacia went on. “Are you?”

“I am.” Oh, yes.

“Wonderful. I told her I’d make arrangements for a place to stay and—”

“Not necessary. We’ll be staying with my family.”

“Oh, of course. That will be lovely for you.”