Her Little Secret, His Hidden Heir(44)

Marc wasn’t far behind. As soon as he felt the start of her climax, he released the stranglehold on his own self-control, and followed her into bliss.





Fourteen




Vanessa awoke to early morning sunlight streaming through the half-drawn draperies and across the bed. A wide smile split her face as she stretched like a cat, feeling better than she had in a very long time.

Tilting her head, she checked the clock, then sat up quickly. Ten o’clock! How could she possibly have slept so long?

Granted, she’d had a rather rigorous evening. She and Marc had made love three times during the long night, and Danny had had them both out of bed a couple of times in between. But she still should have been up long before now, especially since Danny had to be awake and fussing.

Rolling to the edge of the mattress, she started to sit up only to have her hand bump something near the head of the bed. It crinkled slightly, and when she looked, she found a slip of paper lying half under Marc’s pillow.

Had to go to the office, it said in her ex-husband’s tall, distinctive scrawl. Danny is with Marguerite. Home for dinner. And it was signed, Love, M.

Short and to the point, which was typical of Marc. But using the L-word in a frivolous manner was not. Did he mean it? Or had it simply slipped out by habit, given their return to familiar marital intimacies?

Vanessa’s heart pinched inside her chest. She wasn’t sure how to feel about either possibility, so she decided not to think about it too much. At least not at the moment.

Slipping out of bed, she quickly dressed in a pair of linen slacks and a light pumpkin orange top, then made her way out of the suite and downstairs, peeking her head in several doorways as she went in hopes of finding Danny.

She found them in the library. A large blanket was spread out on the floor with Danny in the center. Toys were spread all around, and the same young maid from last evening sat at one corner, making faces and playing with the laughing child. She was definitely working overtime, Vanessa thought, making a mental note to ask Marc if she was being properly compensated.

“Ms. Keller,” the woman murmured as soon as she spotted Vanessa. Pushing to her feet, she clasped her hands nervously behind her back.

“It’s Mason, actually,” Vanessa replied automatically. Moving toward the blanket, she knelt beside Danny and scooped him up, cradling him against her chest.

He giggled, kicked his little legs and grabbed for her hair. She chuckled in return, kissing one of his warm, chubby cheeks.

“Thank you for watching him again,” she said, climbing back to her feet and taking a seat on one of the nearby sofas.

“My pleasure, ma’am. Mr. Keller said it was all right to give him a bottle and some baby cereal, so he’s been fed and burped. Changed, too.”

Vanessa nodded, sending the young woman a gentle smile. Her first inclination was to dismiss the maid and take over Danny’s care herself. She wasn’t used to having staff on hand and underfoot anymore to see to her every need or whim. And she was used to taking care of things—especially her son—almost single-handedly.

But the maid looked so eager to please and Vanessa knew from personal experience how demanding Eleanor could be. She was hard enough on her children and their spouses, but with her employees, she was downright tyrannical.

Standing, she gave Danny another kiss, this one in the center of his forehead, then returned him to the blanket.

“Would you mind watching him for a while longer?” she asked as she straightened. “I’d like to get some breakfast.”

The young maid looked both pleased and unaccountably relieved. She quickly moved back to the blanket and took up her post at Danny’s side.

“Of course, ma’am. Take your time.”

“Thank you.”

As familiar as Vanessa was with Keller Manor, she was anything but comfortable inside its gates and walls. It was too big and lifeless for her tastes, reminding her of some cold, cavernous mausoleum. At times, she could swear her footsteps and voice actually echoed as if she was inside a giant catacomb.

Although she knew she could go straight to the dining room, and a servant would be there to take her order in under a minute, she instead made her way to the kitchen at the rear of the house. The kitchen staff was busy bustling around, cleaning up from the rest of the family’s morning meal and preparing for the afternoon one.

“Ms. Keller,” one of them chirped when she saw her.

Vanessa smiled, not bothering to correct the use of her married name. If she did that every time one of the staff reverted to the family surname, she would get nothing else done.

“Hello, Glenna. It’s nice to see you again.”

The older woman’s smile was warm and genuine, not the usual lift of dutiful lips. “You, too, ma’am.”

“How many times have I told you to call me Vanessa?” she scolded with a friendly wink.

The woman nodded, but old habits died hard, and Vanessa knew every one of the Keller staff would rather be chastised by her for not calling her by her first name than to accidentally slip and call Eleanor by hers.

“I missed breakfast. Do you think I could get a slice of toast and some juice?” she asked. She knew better than to try to fix something on her own. She’d done that before, when she and Marc had first been married, and learned very quickly that the kitchen staff could be more than a little territorial.