She frowned a little, but he didn’t care if she was having second thoughts about suing him now.
“He says Jackie and Elena died three months ago?”
All of the air seemed to leave her. Dina slumped and dropped into the closest chair. “Elena was taking flying lessons.” A smile curved her mouth briefly. “She wanted to be able to come down here to visit me and our grandmother whenever she wanted to.”
Con’s stomach clutched.
“Anyway, she got her license and to celebrate, she and Jackie went on a weekend trip to San Francisco.”
“Without the kids?”
She nodded. “Thank God, as it turned out. One of their friends stayed at the house with the triplets. Anyway, on their way home, there was some kind of engine trouble. Elena wasn’t experienced enough to compensate for it and they went down in a field.”
Pain slapped at him as Connor’s mind filled with memories of Jackie. Of the years they’d spent together, of the laughs, of all the good times. He hated knowing she was dead. Hated thinking how scared she must have been at the end. Hated that she wasn’t here for him to yell at. Getting past his own racing thoughts, he looked at Dina and saw the misery in her eyes before she could mask it. And he was forced to remember that she’d lost her sister in that crash.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “About Elena.”
“Thank you,” she said, taking a breath as she stood up to face him. “And I’m sorry about suing you without talking to you first.”
A snort of laughter shot from his throat. “Aren’t we polite all of a sudden.”
“Probably won’t last,” she mused.
Con thought of all that had to be settled between them—of the triplets and their welfare, of his still simmering rage at having been lied to for two years—and he had to agree. “Probably not.”
Nodding, Dina accepted that and asked, “So where does that put us right now?”
“Opposite sides of a fence,” Connor answered.
“That’s honest, anyway.”
“I prefer honest. Lies always end up getting...messy.” He didn’t say it, but judging by Dina’s expression, she heard the implication. That it was her sister and Jackie’s lies that had brought them here, tangling the two of them up in a situation that was only going to get more chaotic.
Connor was here to claim his children. To do the right thing no matter who got in his way. That included Dina Cortez.
His stomach clenched as he heard a squeal of laughter soaring from the other room.
God, he was a father, and the ramifications of that hadn’t sunk in yet. He’d only had a few hours to try to wrap his head around the fact that everything he knew had changed with the simple act of opening that envelope from Dina’s lawyer.
He’d helped Jackie and Elena because he wanted to. And, he remembered, because he thought it might be fun to be on the periphery of a child’s life—more as a benevolent uncle than a father. But things were different now and they’d all have to adjust.
“So, is this a truce?”
Con looked at Dina when she spoke and thought about it for a second or two. He was still angry—he didn’t think that would be going away any time soon—but he had to at least bury that anger long enough to do the right thing. And that meant making sure his children were cared for. How Dina would fit into the future, he didn’t know. But better to keep her close until he figured it all out.
When she shifted under his steady regard, he finally said, “Truce. For now.”
A long, high-pitched wail erupted from the other room and in the next couple of seconds, two more voices joined the first until those cries built into a combined sound that ratcheted through Con’s head like a hammered spike. “What the—”
Dina was already walking and threw back over her shoulder, “You want to be a father? Now’s your chance.”
Con swallowed back a quick jolt of nervousness and followed her. Hell, the King family had experienced a population explosion in the last few years. Every time the cousins got together, they passed kids from arm to arm, so he wasn’t a stranger to crying babies. The fact that these were his children made the situation a little different, naturally. But he could handle it.
His babies. His children. Something visceral swamped him and he could finally understand and sympathize with everything his twin had gone through when he’d discovered his own kids. At the time, Connor had listened, sympathized and commiserated, but now he realized just what a life-altering moment this really was. Looked like he owed Colt an apology.
Yet even though he was twisted up over the circumstances they’d found themselves in, he was male enough to enjoy the view Dina provided as she walked away from him. The woman had a great behind.
Shaking his head fiercely, Connor told himself to get a grip and followed her. It wasn’t far and yet it felt to him as if he was taking the longest journey of his life. From bachelor to father. From a single man to a family man.
And he wasn’t sure yet just how he felt about it.
In the kitchen, he glanced around quickly, noting white walls, black counters and splashes of red in the curtains hanging over the window and the toaster and blender sitting on the counter. But it wasn’t the house he was interested in right now. Instead, everything in him concentrated on the far end of the big, square room. There, behind a series of interlocked child gates, were the triplets.
One of them, a girl, stood up, wobbling a little, clutching the top rail of the gate and howling like a banshee. When she saw Dina, the tiny girl started stamping her feet as if she were marching in place. Dina swept the baby into her arms, then turned to face Connor.
“Sadie, meet your daddy.”
Tears tracked along her cheeks. Wispy black curls framed her face and Connor’s heart expanded so quickly, so completely, he felt a physical ache. A connection he hadn’t really expected leaped to life as he looked at the tiny human being he had helped to create. Her coloring was all King, but the shape of her eyes was just like Elena’s. Like Dina’s. The baby stopped crying as she looked at Connor, and in a blink, she went from tears to a tiny coy smile that tugged at his heart as surely as her little fingers plucked at Dina’s shirt.
Without another word, Dina handed him the baby girl, then turned to gather up the boys. She straightened with a baby on each hip, clinging to her shoulders. “They need to be changed, and since they’ve already had dinner, it’s bath time, followed by story time and bedtime and then the countless middle-of-the-night cry times.” She tipped her head and looked at him. “You up for this?”
Sadie slapped both hands against his cheeks, then dropped her head onto his shoulder with a soft sigh. Con was toast and he knew it.
“I’m up for it.”
* * *
Dina had to give it to him.
She hadn’t expected Connor to know a thing about handling babies. First, because he was a man, and sexist it might be, but in her experience the only thing a man knew about kids was how to hand them off to the nearest woman. Secondly, didn’t the rich hire nannies so they didn’t have to know how to care for a baby?
But he’d surprised her. Again. The first big surprise of the day had come when he’d shown up at her house unannounced and snarly yet still managing to look edible. Through their uncomfortable first meeting, the anger on both sides and the still simmering distrust, Dina had felt the unmistakable sizzle of desire.
Oh, it wasn’t a good idea, but what woman wouldn’t feel it? Tall, with broad shoulders, narrow hips and long legs, Connor King was the kind of man who captured attention as easily as he breathed. His black