Convincing Alex
Page 48

"Mine," Rachel said in a huff. "If you eat more than one, I'll break your fingers."
"She was always greedy," he said over the first piece. "Where's Alexi?"
"He got called in."
"Good. Now you have time to sit down. I'll sketch you."
"Now?" Womanlike, Bess lifted a hand to her hair. "I'm not exactly dressed for it."
"I want your face." Obviously well used to making himself at home, he opened the drawer on an end table and rummaged for a pad. "Perhaps I'll do your body later. It's a good one."
Her laugh was quick. "Thanks."
"You might as well cooperate," Rachel told her, and crossed over to take the baby. "Once the artist in htm takes over, you haven't got a chance."
"I'm flattered, really."
"There's no reason to be," he said absently as he unearthed a suitable pencil. "You have the face you were bom with."
"Thank God that's not always true."
That caught his interest. "You had it fixed?"
"No. I just sort of grew into it."
"Not there," he told her before Bess could sit. "Over there, closer to the window in the light. Rachel, when do I get the drink you promised me?"
"On its way." She stopped nuzzling Brenna long enough to look up. "What can I get you, Bess?"
"Anything cold—and a shot at holding the baby."
"I can accommodate you on both counts." Rachel laid her daughter gently in Bess's arms. "She hardly ever cries. And I think her eyes may stay blue. Like Zack's."
"She's a beauty." Bess leaned down to brush her lips over the curling dark hair and to draw in the indescribably sweet scent of baby. "Like all of you."
"Move," Mikhail ordered his sister. "You're in my way."
Shooting off a mild Ukrainian insult, she headed for the kitchen.
"Talk if you like." Mikhail gestured with his pencil; and began to sketch.
"It's one of my best things." She'd already forgotten to be self-conscious. "Where's Sydney and Griff?"
"Griff has the sniffles." The pencil was moving with quick, deft strokes over the pad. "Sydney fusses over him, but she says I'm fussing over him and sends me out on errands."
"Which he does by coming by and plaguing me," Rachel called out.
"She's happy to see me," Mikhail said. "Because she's lonely, with Zack and Nick over checking on the progress of the new apartment."
"Oh, that's right, you're moving." Comfortable, Bess tucked up her legs. "Alexi mentioned it."
"We need a bigger place. Of course, it was supposed to be ready a month ago, but things never run on time. I'll miss this one," she said, coming back in with a tray of cold drinks. "And having Nick underfoot. But I imagine he'll like having this place to himself."
Bess reached for her drink with her free hand, gently jiggling the baby with the other. "I guess he had as big a crush on you as Freddie has on him."
For a moment, Rachel only stared. Then she let out her breath in a quiet laugh. "Alex said you saw things."
"Just part of the job."
Rachel didn't consider herself a slouch in the readingpeople department. "So, how big a crush do you have on Alexi?"
"The biggest." Bess smiled and rubbed her cheek over Brenna's. "He thinks I'm flighty. Fickle. But I'm not. Not with him."
"Why would he think that?"
"I have a varied track record. But it's different with him." When Bess lowered her head to murmur to the baby, Rachel glanced at her brother. They exchanged a great deal without uttering a word. "It makes me envy people like your sister, Natasha," Bess went on. "Those three beautiful children, a husband who after years together still looks at her as if he can't believe she belongs to him. Work she loves. I envy all that."
"You'd like a family?"
"I never had one."
Rachel knew it was the lawyer in her, but she couldn't help moving along the line of questioning. "Does it bother you that he's a cop?"
"Bother me?" Bess's brows lifted in surprise. "No. Do you mean, will I worry? I suppose I will. But it's not something I could change, or that I want to change. I love who he is."
"He's making you sad," Mikhail said quietly.
"No." Bess's denial was quick enough to startle the dozing baby. She soothed her automatically as she shook her head. "No, of course he isn't."
"I see what's in your eyes."
He would, she realized, and felt the warmth creep into her cheeks. "It's only that I know he doesn't trust me—my feelings. Or, I suppose, the endurance of my feelings. It's not his fault."
"He was always one to pick things apart." There was brotherly disgust in Mikhail's voice. "Never one to take anything on faith. I'll speak to him."
"Oh, no." This time, she laughed. "He'd be furious with both of us. All that Slavic pride and male ego."
Instantly Mikhail's eyes narrowed. "What's wrong with that?"
"Nothing." She grinned at Rachel. "Not a thing. I'll just wear him down in my own way. In fact, I'm going to start tonight. I'm cooking dinner. I thought maybe I could call your mother, find out if he has a favorite dish."
"I can tell you that," Rachel offered. "Anything."
"Well, that certainly widens my choices. Do you think she'd mind if I called her, asked for some pointers? My kitchen skills are moderate at best."
"She'd love it." Rachel smiled to herself, knowing her mother would hang up the phone and immediately start planning the wedding.
It was after midnight when Alex let himself into Bess's apartment with the key she'd given him. He was punchy with fatigue, and his head was buzzing from too much coffee. Those were usual things, as much a part of his work as filing reports or following a lead. But the sick weight in his stomach was something new.
He would have to tell her.
She'd left the television on. In an old black-and-white movie a woman screamed in abject terror and fled down a moonlit beach. As he shrugged out of his jacket, Alex moved across the room to switch it off. Before he reached the set, he saw her, curled on the couch.