A MATTER OF TRUST (22 page)

Chase stood up slowly, afraid that he was only dreaming or that his mind had conjured up her image to keep him from going insane. He managed to choke out her name before hauling her into his arms and hugging her fiercely to his chest. He closed his eyes, inhaling deeply to draw in her scent, basking in Maddy’s warmth while the sensation of having her pressed up against him soaked into his skin and breathed life back into him again.

Maddy tilted her head back, her voice uncertain. “Chase?” He opened his eyes, his gaze raking over her face as if he couldn’t believe she was here. “I…I’m sorry,” she whispered.

He swallowed hard, dread filling his heart. “Sorry for coming back or sorry that you ever met me?”

She cupped his face in her hands. “No, my darling, I could never be sorry for that.” Remembering the look on his face when he’d first seen her standing there, Maddy’s heart clutched. “Are you sorry I came back?”

A soft smile tipped the corners of his mouth. “No, my darling, I could never be sorry for that.”

Her troubled eyes met his. “You didn’t look too happy to see me a few minutes ago. I thought…I mean, it looked as if you hated me.”

“It wasn’t you I was hating at that moment, but myself. I shouldn’t have left this morning without working things out but you looked so tired I didn’t want to wake you.”

“I wish you would have. I was so afraid I’d ruined everything between us and I was sick with worry.” Maddy slipped her arms around his neck. “Then I got the flowers and knew everything was going to be all right.”

“Then why did you throw them on the floor, and why did you leave?”

“I didn’t throw them on the floor! You see, the envelope arrived with those pictures shortly before the flowers were delivered and I…”

The bottom dropped out of his stomach at the mention of the pictures. “Maddy, I can explain. I know this sounds cliché, but it’s not what it looked like.”

“Oh, it was exactly what it looked like,” she said heatedly. “I can’t imagine why Angela thought she could pull this off, unless she was counting on me taking one quick look and running with away to nurse by broken heart.” She nearly had run off, but Maddy wasn’t about to let Chase know there had been even a moment’s doubt in her mind. She let the anger slip from her voice and offered him a sympathetic smile. “My poor darling, you must have been appalled to find out what she’d done, and I certainly didn’t make it any easier by not telling you I was going out.”

Chase stared at her in amazement. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m elated that you saw right through her little scheme, but…how did you figure it out?”

“Easy,” she said with a shrug. “The expression on your face told a whole different story than what she was hoping to portray. You were irritated when you went in, and then just plain shocked at Angela’s door. I suppose she leapt out at you like the snake that she is.”

“Maddy!”

“Well it’s true. Anyway, when I realized she’d staged everything to make it look like you were cheating on me, I decided I had to put an end to it.”

Chase let out a low groan. “Please tell me you didn’t go see her.” Getting Angela angry would only make her more vengeful and he’d had about all he could take. “I don’t think that was such a good idea.”

Her chin went up with a proud hitch. “I can’t expect you to fight all my battles, Chase.”

“Sweetheart, this isn’t your battle.”

“Of course it is. When I saw those pictures I knew I had to fight for my man or she’d just keep trying to seduce you away from me.”

Chase grinned. “You’re man, huh?”

“That’s right, Chase Malone, and don’t you forget it.”

He pulled her closer, lowering his head so that his lips hovered just above hers. “Would you care to make that legal?”

Maddy let out a breathless sigh. He’d already asked her to marry him and she was wearing his ring, so why did his question put butterflies in her stomach and why was her heart fluttering so madly? She closed her eyes, already feeling the heat begin to pool deep in her abdomen and he hadn’t even kissed her yet. Oh, the things this man did to her. His mouth slanted over hers, reducing her to nothing but a trembling mass of flesh in just a matter of seconds.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Chase said when Maddy rolled her hips against him in a manner that was more than a little suggestive. “I have big plans for us today which will all go to the wayside if you keep that up.”

“What kind of plans?”

“Plans that require you to pack a bag and be ready to go in one hour.”

“But…where are we going and how long will we be gone?”

“I’m not taking any more chances. We’re going to Las Vegas for a few days.”

A brilliant smile lit her face. “And just what do you intend to do in Las Vegas?”

Chase planted a sound kiss on her lips. “I intend to make you my wife. Now be a good girl and go pack while I make a few calls. I want to be well gone before Angela decides to come knocking.”

“I told you I took care of that.”

His smile was indulgent. “Sweetheart, I know you think…”

“She won’t bother us again,” Maddy insisted.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what. You go pack and I’ll arrange for the flight, then once we’re in the air you can tell all about it.”

****

She knew he didn’t believe her but right now she was too excited about the prospect of becoming his wife to waste any more time talking about it. She was even more thrilled to discover Chase had his own private airplane and was entertained during the preparation for takeoff by the light banter between Chase and his pilot, Jason. They’d obviously been friends for years, and Jason was taking a great deal of pleasure out of ribbing Chase.

“Not that I blame you for giving up your bachelorhood,” Jason grinned as he gave Maddy a sweeping glance, “but I seem to recall numerous conversations where you swore no woman would ever tie you down. As a matter of fact…”

“Just fly the damn plane,” Chase growled. He settled into his seat next to Maddy and took her hand. “Don’t listen to him; he’s just jealous because he hasn’t got a shot in hell of finding a woman like you.”

Jason chuckled and took his place at the front of the plane. “Last chance to bail, Maddy,” he called over his shoulder.

“And give up my place in history as the woman who managed to tie down Chase Malone? Not a chance,” she said with a laugh.

Conversation was minimal as Jason was given the go ahead for takeoff, but once they were airborne Chase asked her what happened when she’d confronted Angela. Maddy started at the beginning, recounting how shocked she was when she first saw the pictures, and though she downplayed how upset she’d gotten she admitted it took her a few minutes to realized the encounter between Chase and Angela had been staged.

“Something inside me…snapped. A woman like that wasn’t going to stop just because we got married and I refused to allow our lives to be disrupted every time she decided to pull another stunt like this one. It didn’t occur to me until I was almost to the Donelli mansion that she put her address on the envelope because she wanted to see if I had the guts to confront her myself.”

“You should have let me deal with it,” Chase admonished, though secretly his chest filled with pride for what she’d done.

“I had to prove to her I wasn’t afraid. And you know, I wasn’t afraid, not at all. She must have been expecting me, or maybe she was just ready for one of us to show up because I was immediately shown into the sitting room and Angela swept in a few minutes later. She looked so smug, I just wanted to wipe that smile off her face.” Maddy glanced at Chase with a sheepish grin. “I couldn’t help it. I told her who I was.”

“Considering she was so sure you were my housekeeper, it must have come as quite a surprise to her that you’re Alexander’s daughter.”

Maddy’s grin broadened. “You should have seen her face, it was priceless. I told her the pictures hadn’t fooled me and if she ever tried something like that again I’d make sure she was cut off from every respectable social circle from here to New York. I’ve never used the weight of my name before, but she’d really left me no choice.”

Chase was doubtful. This was a woman who’d ignored all his previous threats and taken it beyond a harmless obsession by setting him up and then sending the pictures to Maddy. “Don’t be fooled by a docile surrender,” he warned.

Maddy laughed. “Docile? Oh, she was far from docile. She started ranting and raving and said she didn’t believe my name was St. Claire. She said she’d scrap up every piece of dirt she could find on me and if that didn’t work, she’d make up something so sordid that you wouldn’t touch me again let alone marry me.”

Chase’s lips thinned, his eyes blazing with fury. “If she does anything to hurt you…”

“She won’t.”

“You don’t know her, Maddy.”

“Maybe not,” she smiled sweetly, “but she won’t interfere with us again. As a matter of fact, I imagine she’ll take a wide berth if we happen to meet up at the same functions. You see, it was poor Angela’s misfortune that her father happened to come home during her tirade and overheard everything. As it turns out, Mr. Donelli and my father go way back and he was simply livid when he heard what she was planning to do.”

“I can imagine,” Chase said dryly. Angela may be all claws and venom when it came to other people but she knew better than to defy her father. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that, but you’re right about one thing; she won’t be bothering us again.”

EPILOGUE

Maddy stood out on the balcony, enjoying the sound of the waves washing up over the shore and the way the moonlight glistened off the water. It had been exciting evening and she feeling a little ragged and worn out, though she’d never admit it to Chase. Tonight had marked the first showing of her paintings at the Reyes Art Gallery, an upscale establishment that catered to the rich, and she was elated that it had been such a success. She stifled a yawn and moved her hand protectively over her belly, smiling at the barely noticeable bulge. It would be months before their baby was born, but she couldn’t help the surge of love that wound through her every time she thought of holding it in her arms.

“You should be sitting down, or better yet, in bed,” Chase chastised lightly as he joined Maddy.

Warmth flooded her body when his big hand covered hers. “Is he asleep?”

“Finally. That son of yours can be quite stubborn when he wants to be. I had to read three stories before he settled down and closed his eyes.”

Maddy leaned back into him. “That stubborn streak comes from you Chase Malone.”

Chase dipped his head and nibbled at her neck. “Maybe this one will be a girl. I could go for a nice, shy little thing like her mother.”

She smiled with amusement. “You think raising a girl will be easier?”

“Indubitably. I won’t have to worry about her climbing on everything then fearlessly jumping off, or riding her bicycle too fast, or…” this one made him shudder, “drawing her own bath because she wants to go swimming by herself.”

Maddy turned in his arms, threading her fingers through his hair. At four years old their son, CJ, short for Chase Junior, was quite a handful but she knew as well as Chase did he loved that untamed spirit and wouldn’t have changed it for the world. Having four brothers of his own should have prepared him for the antics CJ pulled but he still seemed surprised by his son’s ingenuity.

“I hate to burst your bubble,” she said with a smile, “but it’s going to be much worse with a girl.”

“Impossible.”

“Really? You fall to pieces if I even look like I’m going to cry. How are you going to handle the tears of a little girl? And believe me, she’ll shed a bucket full every time you tell her she can’t have something she wants.”

“Ah, but you’re under the assumption there will come a time when I may deny my daughter what her heart desires, and that, quite simply, will never happen.”

Maddy stood on her toes and planted a kiss on his lips. “She’s going to have you wrapped around her little finger, my love.”

“Just like her mother,” he sighed.

“Is that so?”

“You know it is. When have I ever been able to say no to you?”

Maddy had to concede the point. “You really have been a perfect husband, and since you’ve already admitted you can’t say no, I think I’d like you take me to bed and make mad, passionate love to me.”

A low growl vibrated in the back of his throat as he swept her up into his arms and carried her inside. How could he ever deny a woman who made his blood boil with nothing more than a soft smile or the lightest of touches? How could he even consider causing her a moment’s unhappiness when she was his heart, his soul, the very air that he breathed? She was the reason he greeted each morning with a smile and why he raced home from work each night. She’d given him a son that he loved almost as fiercely as he loved his wife, and soon there would be another baby. Maddy was everything to him, everything.