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.“Missing all the action apparently.”“I think I just puked in my mouth a little,” Riana moaned, her hand pressed to her throat.“You guys are early!” Melody shrieked, picking up the discarded sheets from the floor.“How did you even get in?”“A very nice lady holding a fussy baby let us in.”Riana said that casually, but Ruiz has known his sister long enough to know she was building up to something and he knew what.She turned to him with a glare.“Funny thing, she said the baby was yours, but that couldn’t be because my brother and sister-in-law wouldn’t be so selfish as to keep that news to themselves.”Loraine whistled, reclining to her elbows effectively pushing her large belly out.“Yup, she’s about to bitch big time.I go next.”“Well, ah, I would like to stay and get bitched at, but my boobs are about to explode, so bye!” She rushed for the door, but stopped dead when Riana said, “Allan is out there waiting for you.”Melody span around to face him wide eyed.Yup, he understood that fear just fine.“Hey, if you let me borrow your husband for a while I’ll put in a good word for you.”“What!” Ruiz and Melody blurted out together.Ruiz wasn’t sure, but he could swear Loraine just propositioned him.Riana just covered her face and muttered, “Lord help her.”“Yup, that’s right! We know you two got hitched and without so much as an invitation card to your family.” She gave her head a sad shake.“Talk about selfish.”The door opened then behind Melody and she jumped with a shout to face it.Jackie stepped in with a whimpering Esme.“Melody, Ruiz your daughter isn’t going to wait any longer.”Her hand over her heart Melody exclaimed, “Jackie, you scared me!”Ruiz let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding.He hated to admit it, but for a moment he thought it was Allan come to kill him.“Nanny, I don’t think I can hold her right now.I’m shaking too much.” She held her hands up as proof and they truly were shaking.Ruiz made sure the towel around his waist was secure before he moved to take Esme from Jackie.Holding her against his chest with one arm with his free hand he took Melody’s arm and led her to the settee by the window.He settled her down then handed Esme to her.“Go on, feed her.Jackie will sit with you.” He turned to the older lady who took that as her cue and moved to sit down next to Melody.“She’ll protect you from the big bad dragon.”Melody laughed nervously, parting her robe and giving Esme who’d already started crying for her breast.“Very funny.I don’t know why I reacted that way.I knew he was coming—and he’s my brother for crying out loud.Not the terminator!”Ruiz wasn’t so sure about that.Allan would probably love to terminate him but he took care not to say that to Melody.She was panicked enough.He brushed her wet hair behind her shoulders.“Hey, calm down.You haven’t seen him for a very long time, its natural to feel anxious, all things considered.”He felt a warm hand on his shoulder and he turned to look up at Riana’s understanding face.He stood and hugged her.“It’s good to see you baby sister.”She rubbed his back in that gentle motherly way.“It’s good to see you to…just not all of you.”“I’m happy to see all of you,” Loraine piped up.He shifted his gaze to Loraine.She was still laying on the bed, but her arms were now lifted out to him.“Come give me a hug…and a little more.”“Loraine!” Melody exclaimed.Ruiz chuckled releasing his sister.“Reno still holding out on you?”Her arms dropped along with her leering gaze and provocative smile.“He’s punishing me, I just know it.”Riana sighed.“He’s not punishing you, he’s just being cautious.”Loraine pushed herself up to a sitting position and glowered at her.“Cautious? How cautious was Allan when you were carrying AJ?”Ruiz suddenly felt very uncomfortable.He didn’t like the direction the conversation was taking.“I’d rather not know about that, thank you.”Riana tagged playfully at the towel.“Ditto.”“Fine.” Ruiz tagged on the tail end of her braid and with a quick kiss on her forehead rushed to the walk-in closet.Usually he took just a few minutes to get ready, but today he was taking longer.He knew what he was doing.He was stalling.Why? Because he was not looking forward to seeing Allan now that all the cards were on the table.Sure he may have known about Melody and him and probably right from the start, but thanks to Reno he’d held off confronting Ruiz.Now it was time for Ruiz to face the music and without his brother shielding him.It was time for him to face all his responsibilities.Ruiz lifted his left hand and stared at his ring.He rotated it with his thumb, amazed at how normal it looked on his finger.He hadn’t taken it off since Melody handed it to him to wear for his mother’s benefit.Melody also hadn’t taken off her rings—except her engagement ring, which she did when she had to.The large stone was a little cumbersome to work with on her hand, especially when she was tending to Esme.She was afraid it would cut her like it had cut him when she slapped him.He chuckled, running his thumb over the skin where the cut had been [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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