Chapter 18
Melody
Dinner is in the dining room. Apparently, it is every night. Gretchen is happier than I’ve ever seen her. She adores working for this rowdy bunch of Wilde heirs and pregnant wives.
This house is going to be total mayhem in under nine months. Three babies. Four, if Brody gets his way. Or hell, it could be five or six or seven. Hard to say how many more Wilde heirs might show up in the coming weeks and months. Will all of them marry and live in the mansion?
We’re having the most delicious pot roast I’ve ever tasted. Gretchen has hired a woman from town to help serve dinner. She started today. She’s nervous. Her hands are shaking every time she sets a platter down.
Reagan gently grabs her hand as she fills everyone’s glass with water. “Let me introduce you to the gang.”
The woman’s eyes go wide. “That’s okay,” she mutters. “You don’t have to.”
“Don’t be silly. Everyone, this is Isabel. We went to school together. She just moved back to Wilde from the city a few weeks ago.”
Everyone gives a wave and welcomes her. She’ll never remember all our names, but I can see her trying to memorize them.
“What were you doing in the city?” I ask.
She fidgets. “I was a nanny for a family. They have two kids. I was with them for seven years. I started right out of high school. But they’re grown now.”
“So you like kids?” Claire asks. “Because there’s about to be a lot of them around here.”
Isabel finally beams. “I love kids. I babysat for everyone in Wilde before I moved away. I don’t think there’s a family in town I didn’t work for at one time or another. I started babysitting when I was twelve.”
“That’s so cool,” Arianna says. “Are you planning to stay in Wilde or are you looking for a new nanny position?”
She looks around, her face tinging pink. “I don’t know yet. I hadn’t expected to get this job. My mother lives here in Wilde. For the last several years, I’ve only seen her sporadically. It would be nice to spend more time with her.”
Gretchen bustles in and looks around as if checking to see if anyone needs anything.
Isabel quickly busies herself by filling another water glass.
“Did everyone meet Isabel?” Gretchen asks.
“We did,” Ryder informs her.
“Oh, good. I haven’t had a free moment to make formal introductions. She has the most impressive recommendations from the family she worked for. So many skills. I’m so glad she’s here.”
Isabel’s cheeks are even darker now. She’s so nervous. I wish I could say something to calm her, but I’d be freaking out if I were in her shoes, too. She’ll relax over time.
Hell, what am I thinking? This is my first night in the house, too. I’m only marginally less nervous than Isabel. Plus, my life is in upheaval, and the man next to me, with his hand on my bare thigh, wants me to marry him as fast as I’ll agree to it.
I’m not at all sure Isabel is more nervous than I am. But I’m not the one currently serving this raucous table of people and trying to impress all of us.
Isabel leaves the dining room on Gretchen’s tail.
“We’re so glad you’re here,” Ryder announces, looking at me. “If there’s anything you need, ask anyone. We won’t know where to find it, but we’ll all start looking,” he teases.
“Thank you. I’m sorry for the circumstances. I’m sure you all think I’m weird for keeping my identity a secret. Maybe I am. I just wanted to live my life in peace while not giving up what I love to do.”
Tiago shakes his head. “No one thinks you’re weird. We totally understand.”
Arianna leans toward me from across the table.
“Are you kidding? I was hiding in Wilde almost as long as you. I managed to live under the radar for two solid years. No one had a single clue who I was. It was so refreshing. I thought I might get away with it forever.” She elbows Dallas playfully.
“Until this brute showed up and thought it would be a good idea for us to eat at a restaurant in the city.” She rolls her eyes.
It’s only been a few weeks since someone recognized Arianna when she and Dallas were in the city. The next day, reporters showed up at the library, hoping to grab the latest big scoop about the life of the unfortunate woman whose father snapped and killed her mother before committing suicide.
Arianna weathered the storm. Everyone in town helped her. Will they do the same for me?
Dallas pulls Arianna closer and kisses her soundly. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
The love in this room makes me squirm. It’s palpable. I find myself craving things I never thought would happen for me. And when I glance at Brody, he’s smiling at me with the same expression as every other man in the room. Adoration.
He points at my plate. “Do you want more roast?”
“No, thank you.”
He finished his before me. Now every ounce of his attention is on my thigh, which he’s stroking with one hand. Even though he’s looking at my face, I know he’s not listening to anything anyone is saying. He’s busy trying to distract me.
And it’s working. I literally ache for him in a way that makes me want to shove my chair back and drag him upstairs. This will be the first night we sleep in our newly chosen room. I wonder how much sleep we’ll get, considering I need to be at my desk first thing in the morning.
Gretchen serves a delicious lemon tart for dessert. I’m going to gain ten pounds in a week eating here, but if Brody gets his way, I’m going to gain far more than ten pounds in the coming months.
It’s contagious. All of a sudden, I have baby fever. I can’t believe I’m gradually getting more and more on board with this madness. And I keep grinning like I won the lottery.
The moment I take the last bite of my tart, Brody stands. “We’re going to bed. Most days, Melody works early in the morning, so she’ll be tapping at the keys before the sun.”
“Not that early. More like with the sun,” I respond.
“I have to open the library at nine,” Arianna adds.
Reagan nods. “I have a hiking group to accompany at nine also.”
Claire leans into Ryder’s side. “I’ll be here, helping Gretchen hire more staff.” I’m aware that Claire has taken on the role of the matron of the house. As the first to marry a Wilde, she kind of got thrust into the job. She’s apparently good at it, though. And someone has to do it.
Brody threads his fingers with mine and nearly drags me from the room.
I wave a good night to the room and let him manhandle me. I’m nearly laughing by the time we get through the kitchen and reach the rear stairs. As soon as we’re in the stairwell, Brody flattens me to the wall and kisses me like our lives depend on it.
I slide under his spell in seconds. His lips are wicked. They cause my brain to turn to mush and my legs to go weak. When he finally releases my mouth, I’m panting.
He bends at the waist, wraps an arm around my torso, and lifts me off the step.
Holding me, he takes the stairs two at a time.
It’s impressive, and I’m giggling by the time we get to our room.
The snick of the door shutting, followed by the lock turning, has me squirming.
Though I was already fidgeting from the kiss.
Brody carries me through to the attached bathroom before setting me on my feet. “Naked, teeth, pee, bed,” he orders.
“So bossy.” I shove at him to get him out of the bathroom. “How about I pee first, and you wait in the bedroom.”
He grabs my face and kisses me again. “Fine, but the clock is ticking on that modest side of you. Don’t expect me to let you shut this bathroom door for much longer.”
I push him out, shut the door, and hurry to pee. There’s no guarantee he won’t decide my time is up and reenter. Such a dominant man.
After I wash my hands, I let him back in. He’s already changed into cotton shorts, and he smirks as he strolls to the toilet and pulls the front of his shorts down.
I don’t look. It’s too weird. Too intimate. I could have easily gone my entire life without peeing in front of my husband or vice versa. And yet, that was before I met this overbearing man.
As soon as I finish brushing my teeth, I wash my face and apply lotion.
I’m sharing a bathroom with a man. It’s surreal.
It’s not my cottage. I’m in the freaking Wilde mansion.
With a man. Sharing a bathroom. With a man.
I’m going to sleep in his bed. With a man.
My brain can’t compute. It’s rambling at me.
It doesn’t matter that this isn’t our first night together. It is our first night sleeping in the mansion. And it’s going to be weird for a lot of nights. I have no idea how long it will take me to get used to having someone all up in my space.
Do I live here now? It’s possible these three rooms will be my home for a decade or longer. I can’t process that. It’s like I’m not even in my body. I’m floating around just watching everything happen.