Chapter Twenty-Two
Saintcrow sat in his office in the hotel, staring out the window, hating himself for being the cause of Kadie’s heartache.
He never should have taken the kid home, never let her hold it.
With her tender heart, he’d known she would love the child the moment she held it.
And now she was weeping copious tears because she had decided, for his sake, to give the child away.
He swore a violent oath as he slammed his fist on the desk, cracking the solid oak.
He couldn’t let her do it. Oh, he knew she would never blame him, never say anything to make him feel guilty because he had deprived her of something she had only dreamed of.
No, not his sweet Kadie. She loved him unconditionally, willing to put up with a man who had never been good enough for her.
Damn, damn, damn!
Even from this distance, he could smell the tantalizing scent of the baby’s blood. How was he going to live with that day and night? How could he let Kadie give the boy away?
Rising, he paced the floor. Hell, he was a powerful vampire.
He had whipped Elowynne’s ass, he ought to be able to suck it up and resist the lure of the infant’s blood.
The temptation wasn’t all that bad now that his wounds had healed.
Maybe if he gave the kid a little of his own blood it would ease his longing.
He took a deep breath and let it out in a long, slow sigh. Kadie had been through hell because of him. He couldn’t take heaven away from her.
~ * ~
Kadie froze as she felt Saintcrow’s presence in the house.
The baby was asleep. She quickly brushed her hair and dried her eyes, wishing she was wearing something more becoming than jeans and a tee shirt.
She was thinking of changing her clothes when she realized it was too late for that. He was already in the bedroom.
For stretched seconds, they simply looked at each other.
Saintcrow swore softly when he saw the hurt in her eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said gruffly. “Can you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive. I called an adoption agency. They said they’ll take him.”
“Kadie, I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask me, but I know it’s difficult for you to be around the baby, just as I know I can’t live without you.”
He reached for her then, drawing her into his embrace.
“This might not be the best solution, but if you’ve got a better one, I’m willing to listen.
How about if we keep the kid for, say, six months and see how it goes?
Maybe being around him will get easier as time goes by.
If not....hell, we’ll worry about that later.
In the meantime, if it gets too bad at home, I can always spend a night or two at the hotel. ”
She didn’t answer for a long time, and then she nodded.
“I love you, Kadie,” he murmured, and he had never meant it more.
He moved back home late that night, surprised to discover that Kadie had moved all of the baby’s paraphernalia into one of the bedrooms upstairs, no doubt to put some space between him and the child.
The distance wouldn’t be a problem, since Kadie’s preternatural hearing would allow her to hear the boy if he cried or made any other sounds that might concern her.
Clad in his briefs, he paced the floor in their room while Kadie went upstairs to get the baby ready for bed. He listened as she crooned softly to the child, heard the faint creak of a rocking chair, the love in her voice as she sang a lullaby while rocking the boy to sleep.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, he removed his briefs when Kadie came into the room. He watched her undress, her movements slow and provocative. When she reached for one of her nightgowns, he tugged it out of her hands and tossed it aside. “Not tonight,” he said, his voice laced with desire.
With a faint smile, she straddled his hips and pushed him down on the mattress. He gazed up at her, his dark eyes filled with love and desire. “I missed you while you were gone,” she said quietly. “I was afraid you weren’t coming back.”
He cupped her face in his hands. “I will always come back to you, darlin’,” he said, his voice husky. “Never doubt it.”
“Never,” she murmured, as his body melded with hers.
~ * ~
Kadie was almost asleep when Rylan sat up.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“I was wondering what you were going to call the boy.”
“Oh.” Kadie sat up. “I hadn’t really thought about it. I mean, I thought we should decide together if you agreed to let him stay.”
He grunted softly.
“Do you have a preference?”
“No.” He slid a glance in her direction. “But you do.”
“Reading my mind?” she asked.
He shrugged one shoulder. “It’s a bad habit of mine.”
“Don’t I know it. So, do you approve?”
“Conor Rylan Saintcrow. I can live with that. Although I have to say, I’m surprised. I thought you’d want to name him after your father.”
Kadie stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Do you seriously think I’d name our child after my father when he tried to kill you?”
Saintcrow grinned wryly. Her father had been a vampire hunter. And then he blinked as the words, “our child” sank in. “The name’s perfect.”
Throwing her arms around him, Kadie kissed him soundly. And he knew in that moment that Conor Rylan Saintcrow was there to stay.
~ * ~
During the next couple of weeks, Saintcrow spent a lot of time in his office, making plans to reopen the town.
He called a plumber to come out and check toilets, showers, and pipes.
Contacted an electrician to look over the wiring, a pool cleaning outfit to spruce up the pool, a couple of gardeners to mow the lawns and weed the flower beds, a painting company to repaint the buildings and any of houses that needed it, inside and out.
He also called an oil company to come out and fill up the pumps at the gas station.
In what little spare time Kadie had, she worked on a new ad campaign, something she loved doing.
She went through their email list and sent out a mass email to let former clients know that the town would be opening the following spring.
She also sent emails to former employees asking if they were interested in resuming their old jobs.
But her favorite times, the best times, were looking after the baby.
She never tired of holding him, spent hours just looking at him, unable to believe he was hers.
She hadn’t spent much time around babies and it amazed her that he grew so fast, quickly losing the brand-new baby look.
At home, Saintcrow avoided being alone with the boy.
The scent of the child’s blood was a constant temptation, although it wasn’t nearly as hard to resist as he had feared it would be.
It wasn’t so much a thirst for the boy’s blood as it was curiosity.
He had never fed on an infant but he knew vampires who had and they all raved about how fantastic it was, unique, satisfying beyond any other.
He had to admit, Conor was a hell of a cute kid. He didn’t cry much. He had put on a little weight so that he no longer looked like a little scarecrow. With time and patience, Saintcrow had a feeling everything would work out.
Late one Friday night, Saintcrow and Kincaid met in the hotel bar.
“So,” Kincaid asked. “How’s it going?”
Saintcrow shrugged as he filled two glasses with wine and offered one to Jake.
“He’s a cute kid. Kadie’s as happy as a clam, and I’m getting used to him.
But if I had my way, he’d be gone.” He had to admit, his biggest problem with the boy was that Kadie spent so much time with him.
And although he hated to admit it even to himself, he was jealous as hell.
“It’s your own fault,” Kincaid said. “You could have left him where we found him, or dropped him off at some shelter.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a little too late for that now. Kadie’s already crazy about the boy. She loves being a mother. I can’t take that away from her.”
Kincaid shrugged. “Seems pretty simple to me. All you have to do is mesmerize her and wipe the memory of the baby from her mind.”
Saintcrow glared at him. “Memories sometimes come back, you know. If that happened, she’d never forgive me and I wouldn’t blame her.” But it was a tempting idea. Muttering an oath, he drained his glass, refilled it, and changed the subject. “I’m gonna reopen the town in a few months.”
“Is that right?”
“Yeah. I need something to do, something to get me out of the house.”
“That bad, huh?”
“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be.
Fortunately, my self-control is pretty strong, and as long as I don’t go too long without feeding, it’s not a problem.
” He laughed softly. “I’ve never been around anything that tempted me twenty-four seven, except for Kadie, but that’s a whole different thing. ”
“You can handle it,” Kincaid said, slapping him on the back. “Hell, you’ve conquered necromancers and vampire witches and who the hell knows what else.”
Saintcrow snorted. “Sometimes it’s hard but it isn’t impossible. Besides, I kind of like the kid.”
“No shit? Well, I guess if things get rough, you could visit Izabela and see if she can help.”
“Hell, no. No more magic for me. I’ve had enough to last a lifetime.”
“You’ll work it out,” Jake said, grinning ear to ear. “A powerful vampire like you can handle anything.”
Saintcrow glowered at him.
Jake finished his drink and set the glass aside. “In the meantime, if you need any help with the town, let me know.”
“I will. Thanks, Jake.”
“What are friends for?” Kincaid said, and with an airy wave, he vanished from sight.
Saintcrow sat there for a long time, thinking about the past, wondering about the future, grateful that he had one good friend he could count on whenever things got tough.
A thought took him to the nearest town in search of prey. He didn’t usually feed so often but with the baby in the house, he didn’t want to take any chances with his self-control.
~ * ~