Read Online The Collector's Edition Volume 1 by Emma Darcy - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Emma Darcy
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know this doesn’t fit your picture of me. I’m supposed to be too self-absorbed to care about the feelings of others or know anything about them. However, if you’d like to bring Baby out to the kitchen, you can find out for yourself that what I’m telling you is true.’
‘I’ll take your word for it,’ he said flatly, waving her forward. ‘I’m sure Baby will enjoy being fussed over and fed something different. Go ahead and carry her out to Chunz. I’ll get dressed and join you in the kitchen for breakfast.’
‘Right!’ Jayne strode over to Baby’s side of the bed again and swung the child onto her hip. ‘Another thing!’ she hurled at Dan.
His mouth quirked. ‘I’m glad you’ve decided communication is better than running away.’
‘Communication takes a listener as well as a talker. I don’t particularly care to bash my head against a brick wall,’ she retorted loftily. ‘But for the sake of Nina’s daughter, I will. And I’ll go on bashing it until you have the decency to rethink what you’ve done.’
One eyebrow arched a mocking query. ‘What have I done that’s so reprehensible?’
‘Nina would never have called her daughter Baby. Never!’ Jayne declared vehemently. ‘You choose a proper name for her, Dan Drayton. A name that she’ll be happy with in the years to come. You owe it to Nina. You owe it to Mike. It’s their child and and what you’ve done is turn her into a no-name person.’
The eyebrow descended into a frown.
‘Think about it!’ Jayne commanded. ‘I want to hear your first suggestion at breakfast.’
Having thrown down her gauntlet, she marched out of the bedroom, satisfied she had done justice to herself and to Baby. Having lacked any solid sense of identity herself, no way was she going to allow Dan to burden Nina’s daughter with a similar handicap. Nor was she going to let him undermine what she had achieved for herself and what she was going to achieve for herself!
He was right about one thing.
He was not going to find it comfortable living with Dragon Lady!
CHAPTER NINE
D AN reviewed his position as he dressed. It wasn’t totally bad. He was established in the same domicile as Jayne and continual propinquity could break down a lot of barriers, given time and patience. He also had answers to work on, such as they were.
At least he didn’t have to take complete stabs in the dark any more. Jayne didn’t want any other man…yet. The idea of sharing his life on his terms—whatever her perception of that was—aroused intensely negative feelings. Wanting a house of her own suggested a frustrated nesting instinct.
He had the outline of a picture that he could fill in as they spent more time together. For two years he had been rendered powerless to do anything about their marriage. It might not be possible to resurrect what they’d once had together, but he wasn’t going to tamely accept the status quo.
The woman he had married was not dead. She was more vitally alive than he had ever seen her; challengingly alive, excitingly alive. She threw off sparks that set his body abuzz with wanting her again.
She shouldn’t still have the power to do that to him, but she did. There was no denying it. She stirred him as no other woman had before, during or after their marriage. It had only taken one look at her last night for all the old feelings to rush through him again. More sharply from having gone two years without her. Every bit as sharply as when he had first seen her under a full moon in Fiji six years ago.
Having donned his heavy-duty drill clothes, he sat on the bed to pull on his socks and boots. His mind drifted back over the past six years. When had it started going wrong for her? Why?
She had been a travel agent when they’d met, as alone as he was, no ties to anyone or anything. She’d been delighted with the idea of travelling the world with him. Their honeymoon on the Northern Lights cruise from Finland had been deliriously
‘I’ll take your word for it,’ he said flatly, waving her forward. ‘I’m sure Baby will enjoy being fussed over and fed something different. Go ahead and carry her out to Chunz. I’ll get dressed and join you in the kitchen for breakfast.’
‘Right!’ Jayne strode over to Baby’s side of the bed again and swung the child onto her hip. ‘Another thing!’ she hurled at Dan.
His mouth quirked. ‘I’m glad you’ve decided communication is better than running away.’
‘Communication takes a listener as well as a talker. I don’t particularly care to bash my head against a brick wall,’ she retorted loftily. ‘But for the sake of Nina’s daughter, I will. And I’ll go on bashing it until you have the decency to rethink what you’ve done.’
One eyebrow arched a mocking query. ‘What have I done that’s so reprehensible?’
‘Nina would never have called her daughter Baby. Never!’ Jayne declared vehemently. ‘You choose a proper name for her, Dan Drayton. A name that she’ll be happy with in the years to come. You owe it to Nina. You owe it to Mike. It’s their child and and what you’ve done is turn her into a no-name person.’
The eyebrow descended into a frown.
‘Think about it!’ Jayne commanded. ‘I want to hear your first suggestion at breakfast.’
Having thrown down her gauntlet, she marched out of the bedroom, satisfied she had done justice to herself and to Baby. Having lacked any solid sense of identity herself, no way was she going to allow Dan to burden Nina’s daughter with a similar handicap. Nor was she going to let him undermine what she had achieved for herself and what she was going to achieve for herself!
He was right about one thing.
He was not going to find it comfortable living with Dragon Lady!
CHAPTER NINE
D AN reviewed his position as he dressed. It wasn’t totally bad. He was established in the same domicile as Jayne and continual propinquity could break down a lot of barriers, given time and patience. He also had answers to work on, such as they were.
At least he didn’t have to take complete stabs in the dark any more. Jayne didn’t want any other man…yet. The idea of sharing his life on his terms—whatever her perception of that was—aroused intensely negative feelings. Wanting a house of her own suggested a frustrated nesting instinct.
He had the outline of a picture that he could fill in as they spent more time together. For two years he had been rendered powerless to do anything about their marriage. It might not be possible to resurrect what they’d once had together, but he wasn’t going to tamely accept the status quo.
The woman he had married was not dead. She was more vitally alive than he had ever seen her; challengingly alive, excitingly alive. She threw off sparks that set his body abuzz with wanting her again.
She shouldn’t still have the power to do that to him, but she did. There was no denying it. She stirred him as no other woman had before, during or after their marriage. It had only taken one look at her last night for all the old feelings to rush through him again. More sharply from having gone two years without her. Every bit as sharply as when he had first seen her under a full moon in Fiji six years ago.
Having donned his heavy-duty drill clothes, he sat on the bed to pull on his socks and boots. His mind drifted back over the past six years. When had it started going wrong for her? Why?
She had been a travel agent when they’d met, as alone as he was, no ties to anyone or anything. She’d been delighted with the idea of travelling the world with him. Their honeymoon on the Northern Lights cruise from Finland had been deliriously
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