Devin agreed with Lexi on that point. There wasn’t a single member of the Demarco family she could afford to trust. She was on her own in this. Well, except for Lexi.
Byron heaved a large sigh. “I guess there’s nothing left for me to say.”
“No,” Lexi agreed. “There’s not.”
Byron glanced back to Devin. “I’m on your side.”
She coughed out a laugh of disbelief. “You’re on Lucas’s side.”
“Lucas is an honorable man.”
“An honorable man wouldn’t try to rip an innocent baby from the arms of her loving aunt.”
Byron’s gaze moved briefly to the sleeping Amelia and then back to Devin. “You’re here, aren’t you?”
“It was his Hail Mary play in court,” she responded. “He only made the offer because he knew the judge was about to rule for me.”
Byron came to his feet. He gave his head a small shake, making a clicking sound in his cheek that transmitted his disagreement with her statement. “You can’t trust Steve,” he said simply.
“Funny,” Lexi responded. “That’s exactly what Steve says about the rest of you.”
“You cannot leave Amelia with these people,” Lexi stage-whispered after Byron had disappeared into the house. “No kidding,” Devin responded.
She poured herself a glass of iced tea from a pitcher that someone had placed on the table. Devin felt a twinge of guilt for letting herself be waited on by the Demarco staff. But she was thirsty, and she didn’t want to disturb Amelia.
Lexi followed suit. “Why can’t rich people be nice?” she asked as the ice cubes clinked against her glass. “If I was rich, I’d still be nice.”
“That should be my new book proposal,” Devin mused, getting another twinge of guilt when she talked about writing. She was behind on her manuscript, and her deadline was looming. “Nice and Rich,” she said, trying a title on for size. “The Art of Doing Them Both Together.” It actually wasn’t half-bad.
Lexi lifted her glass in a mock toast. “The rich truly do need your help.”
Devin grimaced. “Unfortunately, I don’t know the first thing about being rich.”
“Take a look at all this,” said Lexi, gesturing in a circle. “What better place to do your research?”
Devin rolled the idea around in her head.
She glanced from the pool to the tennis courts, the private dock and boathouse, and the humongous mansion that required a map to navigate. It didn’t get much richer than this. And the Demarcos were certainly prime examples of nasty.
Her editor would probably be a lot more forgiving of a late manuscript if she had another book idea in the hopper.
“Here he comes again,” Lexi intoned.
“Byron?” Devin resisted the urge to twist her head to see the staircase behind her.
“Lucas.” Lexi took a sip of the iced tea, leaned back and adjusted the damp towel. “You might want to start taking notes.”
Devin couldn’t help a calculating smirk as Lucas made his way across the pool deck. She wondered how he’d feel about starring in her next book.
He was still wearing his business suit and a pair of perfectly shined dress shoes, though it had to be seventy degrees this afternoon, hotter in the sunshine. His glance went to Amelia, and he seemed to realize she was sleeping.
“I need to talk to you,” he whispered.
“You can use your normal voice,” Devin responded, finding herself watching him closely, thinking about his life and his world and how she might use the Demarcos as fodder for her next book. “Just don’t shout.”
“Okay,” he agreed, testing the chair that Byron had vacated earlier with the back of his hand. Apparently, satisfied that it was dry, he sat down sideways, those expensively shod feet firmly planted on the textured, concrete deck.
He gazed at Amelia for a long minute. Then he glanced to Devin, uncertainty plain on his aristocratic face. “I can… uh, hold her. That is, if you don’t mind.”
Devin’s mouth quirked in a reflexive grin. “You want to hold Amelia?”
He smoothed his palms along his suit pants. “Yes. Sure.” He nodded, still watching Amelia as if he was afraid she might explode. “I’d like to hold her.”
“Why?”
His gray eyes narrowed. “Because she’s my niece.” Devin shifted a little, but Amelia didn’t stir. It was probably a good time for Lucas to take another shot. “Have you ever held a baby before?”
“Just the one time,” he admitted.
Devin couldn’t help but note the wary expression on his face. “Okay.” She scooted carefully forward.
At the last minute, she realized that once Amelia was out of her arms, she’d be sitting here in nothing but her bikini. She gritted her teeth and told herself to buck up. Lucas would probably be so busy worrying about Amelia that he wouldn’t even notice.
She rose and placed the baby carefully in his arms.
His gaze shifted to her cleavage and stayed there. She quickly straightened and stepped back. She briefly debated dashing across the deck to get herself another towel, but she decided that would be too obvious.
She sat down on the lounger and laid back, pretending she didn’t care about the bikini and truly appreciating the empty arms. She enjoyed holding Amelia, but the baby girl did get heavy after a while.
Lexi had kept silent, watching with undisguised interest while Lucas held Amelia.
He seemed to relax ever so slightly, turning, shifting back and putting his legs up on the lounger. He gingerly moved Amelia to a more comfortable position. She wriggled in the big towel, but then went still.
Devin tried not to notice how good he looked with a baby in his arms. For some reason, the bundle of sleeping Amelia seemed to soften the edges of his expression. He came across as protective instead of harsh. It made him even more attractive, if that was possible.
“What did you want to talk about?” she asked him, hoping he wasn’t round two of a tag-team match with Byron.
“A nanny,” said Lucas, his attention still fixed on Amelia. “There’s no rush,” she responded. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of Amelia.”
“I know you are,” he acknowledged. “But you might not always be here.” She glared at him. “Is that a threat?” Lexi asked.
Lucas seemed to remember she was there. “I’ve never made a secret of the fact that I intend to win guardianship,” he told them both.
“As do I,” said Devin.
Lucas stared evenly back at her. “If you do, you can fire the nanny. If not, I thought you might like to help me choose.” He paused, while Devin sorted the offer out in her mind.
She didn’t want to even consider the possibility of leaving Amelia with Lucas. Her brain almost refused to go to the worst-case scenario. But it might come to that. And if it did, and she had to leave. Her stomach contracted with pain, and she had to resist the urge to snatch Amelia out of Lucas’s arms.
If it came to that, wouldn’t she feel better knowing who was caring for Amelia? And would it not be in her best interest to develop a positive relationship with her?
“I’m not a monster,” said Lucas.
Lexi gave a grunt of disbelief.
Lucas