“And with three children, you’re pregnant again,” Dina said with a glance toward Maura’s rounded belly.
“My Jefferson is mad for children, wants as many as we can handle.” Maura ran one hand over her belly as if soothing the restive child within. “And as I agree and find I love being a mother more every day, I’m thrilled to be having another. Even if it does mean Jefferson is adding another wing onto the house, crazy man that he is.”
Dina laughed but felt a tug of envy for the relationship Maura and Jefferson shared. He ran his movie studio from right here with the occasional trip to the States. Maura remained her own person and operated her sheep farm just as she always had, and yet the two of them together were a team that was only enhanced by the kids they shared. Who wouldn’t be envious?
Dina’s gaze locked on Connor, pretend wrestling with Jefferson and the kids. Squeals of laughter from the children were swept up by the cold Irish wind and carried away like dreams. She smiled to herself and if that smile was a little wistful, who could blame her?
“King men are difficult even at the best of times,” Maura told her suddenly, as if deciding to skip the polite niceties and just get to the meat of the matter. “But I can tell you from personal experience that they’re worth the trouble.”
“It’s not like that with us, Maura,” Dina said quickly.
Maura laughed. “Ah, yes. I remember fighting it myself. Jefferson was forever tossing his money about, waving it in my face. Did you know that he actually bought me a lorry without even speaking to me about it?” Shaking her head as she remembered, she continued. “Red it was, and as shiny as a promise, and though I shouted and raged at him for buying the bloody thing, I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. I still drive it now and it’s as lovely as ever it was.”
Dina laughed and shook her head. “He bought you a truck.”
“Aye. Because he said I needed it whether I wanted to admit it or not. And he was right, though I was loath to admit to it. My old beast was on its last wheels, so to speak. But that’s who the Kings are, you see. They make a decision they feel is right and good luck to you trying to convince them otherwise.”
“I don’t like being managed,” Dina said.
“And who does? But that’s not saying you can’t do some managing of your own, is it?”
Dina smiled at the other woman. “You know, I think you and I are going to be great friends.”
“I feel it already,” Maura said with a matching grin. “And, as Jefferson has decided that we must all fly to California next month to take the heathens to Disneyland before this one is born, I’ll be seeing you again soon. You can tell me all about how the managing of Connor King is coming along.”
Next month. Dina didn’t even know if she’d still be at Connor’s house in a month.
“Maybe we could all go to the amusement park together. That would be lovely.” Maura turned her face into the wind. “I’ll call my sister, Cara, and make sure she’s available for it as well. As busy as she is, she does love to see the children when we’re in the States.”
“Cara.” Dina thought about that for a moment. The sign at the front of Maura’s farm still read Donohue Sheep Farm, despite the fact that the owner was a King now. So...Cara Donohue. “Your sister is Cara Donohue?”
Maura’s features lit up. “You’ve seen her films then?”
“I have. She’s wonderful.” And she’d had no idea that Hollywood’s favorite young actress was related to the King family.
“She is that,” Maura said proudly. “It was the film Jefferson shot here on the farm that gave her the big break. She’d done some soaps in London, but after this small film here, Jefferson signed her to do—”
“O’Malley’s Bride,” Dina finished for her.
“The very one.” Maura practically beamed with pride. “She was nominated for best actress for the role. She didn’t win, of course, but the nomination itself was a wonder.”
This whole trip was a wonder, Dina told herself. Maura was kind and friendly, Jefferson was warm and funny, and Connor...she looked at him, and as if he felt her watching him, he caught her gaze and gave her the smile that made her knees weak and her insides nearly purr.
“Oh, yes,” Maura whispered, giving her a little elbow nudge. “There’s plenty there to be managed, Dina. Up to you, of course, but a King, as I said, is more than worth the trouble.”
* * *
Whatever the two women had been talking about earlier had put Dina in an odd mood. Though she’d been patient with the triplets as always, it was as if her body was there, but her mind somewhere else. Back at the castle, with the babies asleep, Connor joined Dina at the open window in the living room. A cold wind rushed inside, but she made no move to shut it. Her long black hair lifted and twisted in that breeze and flew about her face in a dark halo. Her hands gripped the windowsill and her face was turned into the wind, the night.
“Are you all right?”
“I don’t know,” she said softly.
He took her arm and pulled her around to face him. Studying her eyes, he tried to read what she was thinking, feeling, but though those chocolate depths called to him as always, he couldn’t make out what she was hiding from him. The only way to find out was to dig beneath the surface.
Exactly what he’d been aching to do for too long.
He’d never known this kind of overpowering desire. Usually when he wanted a woman, he had her. But for too long all he’d been able to do was ache for Dina. Most of the women he’d come across in his life had leapt at the chance to climb into his bed. The problem had always been getting them to leave again.
Naturally, Dina was different. And he liked that. In fact, everything about her appealed to him. Her gentleness with the babies, her willingness to stand up to him for what she believed was right—the fact that she didn’t want anything from him except what he owed the babies. She had even been insulted at the thought of him buying her off. She was damned fascinating in every way and he hadn’t expected that. Con wasn’t interested in feeling anything other than the desire that pounded inside him. He wasn’t interested in depth. Wasn’t looking for forever. What he wanted was her.
“You’re thinking,” he said, in a quiet, teasing tone. “That can’t be good for me.”
Reluctantly, she smiled. “Might not be good for me, either,” she admitted. “Look, Connor, I think we have to figure out what we’re doing here. I can’t continue to stay at your house with the trips indefinitely. I have a life and a business to run. I can’t just walk away from that.”
“Who’s stopping you from running your business from my house?”
“That only solves one issue,” she said, clearly frustrated. “I can’t stay with you, Connor, just because you think it’s more convenient.”
“You’ll be with me, Dina,” he said, “because you won’t lose the triplets and I’m not giving them up.”
“So where does that leave us, exactly?” She shook her hair back from her face and looked up into his eyes. “Neither one of us is willing to give in, so we just live with a stalemate?”
He couldn’t give her an answer because he didn’t have one. On this trip, it had felt almost as if they were a family. He’d allowed the castle manager, Sean, to assume Con and Dina were married—he’d considered it expedient earlier, but maybe the truth was that he hadn’t minded the assumption as much as he would have expected.
And