Beauty & the Blue Angel Read online

  Caught by that sensation, Alex smoothed his fingertips over one of her tiny fists, and when she grabbed hold of one finger and held on, he felt that fragile grip all the way to his bones.

  Alex sucked in a long deep breath and let it out again slowly, thoroughly—an old trick he’d been using for years when he needed to take a minute to center himself. He hadn’t expected to feel anything for the baby. After all, he wasn’t her father. But just the same, he was caught up in the magic of her. In the simple, beautiful miracle of her.

  And it shook him.

  Hell, he liked kids. Always had. He used to think about someday having one or two of his own. But that was before his fiancée broke their engagement and swept aside all his thoughts of family.

  Alex wiggled his hand, but the baby didn’t release her grip on his finger. Somehow he felt connected to this newborn in a different way. He’d been a part of her birth and a witness to the plain, simple miracle of her, and it had changed everything for him.

  It’s not just your mom who packs a wallop, is it? he silently asked the infant.

  Clearing his throat, he kept his gaze locked with the little girl’s as he asked her mother, “So what name did you come up with?”

  Daisy’s voice was soft and quiet and seemed as warm as the rays of morning sunshine that were just beginning to stream into the room. “Until tonight I’d been thinking of names like Sarah or Molly.”

  “Good names.” He nodded, still looking into the baby’s eyes, wondering what she would think of her new name. How it would affect her personality. How she would look as she grew into it over the years.

  “But now…”

  Daisy paused, and after a moment or two, when she didn’t continue, Alex braced himself and shifted his gaze to her. She was staring right at him and the depths of her blue eyes rivaled those of her daughter’s. The two of them made a formidable pair.

  “Now?” he prompted.

  “Now I think her name will be Angel.”

  Angel. “It suits her,” he said, cuddling the feather-light weight close to his chest.

  “And it will always remind me of tonight.” A heartbeat passed. “Of you.”

  “Me?” It took a second for what she was saying to register, but then it hit him. The stories he’d told her while she labored to give birth. The memories he’d shared of his tour with the Blue Angels.

  “I don’t know what I would have done without you tonight, Alex,” she said, and the blue of her eyes darkened as she spoke, drawing him closer.

  Holding the baby carefully, he moved to the edge of the bed, easing down gently so as not to jostle the child or the mother. “If I hadn’t been at the restaurant, Sal would have called an ambulance. You would have been all right, Daisy.”

  “But I wouldn’t have had you with me during the delivery. Your voice, your talking to me, helped get me through it.” She reached out and laid one hand on his forearm, and Alex would have sworn he felt the heat of her touch right down to the soles of his feet. Damn, she packed a hell of a punch, even when she was obviously exhausted.

  He couldn’t wait to see what she’d be like once she got her strength back.

  “Glad I could help,” he said, his voice tight, thick with an emotion he hadn’t expected. He was so damn touched he didn’t really know what to say. Then he settled for the truth. “I wouldn’t have missed tonight for anything.”

  The next couple of days passed quickly as Alex and Daisy eased into a routine of sorts that soon became all too comfortable.

  She knew she shouldn’t let herself start depending on his company, his help. But he was just so hard to resist. Those eyes of his were deep and dark enough to get lost in, and just hearing the sound of his voice kick-started her heart into a wild beat that nearly strangled her.

  And it was all temporary.

  She opened the window in Gina Barone’s living room, stuck her head out and looked down at the street below. A soft ocean breeze drifted past, carrying the scents and sounds of the city. On the sidewalk, a couple of kids on in-line skates zipped past a flower stall, leaving the owner shouting curses as colorful as his carnations. The bakery on the corner was sending the tantalizing aroma of fresh bread into the air, and from somewhere in the distance came the sound of rock and roll blasting from a stereo.

  Summer was just beginning to heat up, and soon the tourists would flood Boston. There would be some coming to see the monuments, some following the Freedom Trail and some just passing through on their way to somewhere else.

  Like Alex.

  Oh sure, his family was here, but he was a navy man. Which meant he never stayed anywhere for long. Daisy lifted one hand to the smooth, cool glass and drummed her fingers against it. She should leave now. Back away before it became even harder to distance herself from Alex Barone.

  But then, she thought with a wry smile, that would be sort of like locking the barn door after the horse was already halfway down the road. She’d already become so accustomed to his laugh, his voice, the way he looked at her as if she was the most important person on the face of the earth.

  She’d never known that feeling before and she was going to miss it.

  Suddenly, the view seemed colder, lonelier, so she went back inside and carefully shut the window again.

  Behind her, the front door of the apartment opened and closed, and even without turning, Daisy knew Alex had come in. She didn’t need to hear the familiar sound of his footsteps on the gleaming hardwood floors. She sensed his presence in every single nerve ending.

  Oh, she was in big trouble.

  Swallowing hard, she turned to face him. He looked perfect, she thought. In his navy whites today, he was astonishingly handsome—like a poster boy for recruitment. Or one of the stars of that naval television show. But it was more than that. He looked as if he belonged in this casually elegant atmosphere. And he did—far more so than Daisy.

  Quickly, she scanned the now familiar apartment, glancing from one exquisite treasure to the next—from the silk sofas to the Chinese vase to the other assorted antiques. And even as she appreciated the beauty of the place, Daisy felt like an onion in a tulip patch.

  Alex and his family took these things for granted. Heck, he could probably tell her the specifics on most of the pieces in the room. And that thought only served to underline how very little she and the gorgeous navy pilot had in common.

  His eyes locked on her from across the room, and she felt the power of his gaze even at a distance.

  “You hungry?” he asked. “I bought Chinese after my meeting.”

  “Sure,” she said, and swallowed hard. This was ridiculous. Nothing in common? Why should she care? There was nothing between them and there wasn’t going to be. He’d been nice. Nothing more. And the chances of that changing anytime soon were slim to none. She was a single mom and he was just…single. Not to mention the fact that they came from two wildly different worlds. Why on earth would he be interested in her?

  Answer: He wouldn’t.

  And boy was that depressing.

  “That didn’t sound real convincing.”

  “Sorry.” Daisy forced a smile. No point in giving him any clue as to what weird thoughts were racing through her mind. It had to be some kind of post-partum thing. Didn’t all women go a little whacko right after giving birth? Sure. That was it. As soon as she was in her own place and back to her everyday life, she’d be fine. Of course, she wouldn’t be seeing Alex anymore. But that was probably for the best, anyway.

  “Come on,” he said, and led the way to the kitchen. “I swear, you’re gonna love this stuff. I got it at Chang’s, the best Chinese restaurant in Boston.”

  All right, Daisy, get ahold of yourself here. Be friendly and not sappy. “It smells wonderful.”

  “Tastes even better.” He plopped the bag onto the butcher block island. “When I came in, you looked like you were doing some pretty serious thinking.”

  She flushed, darn it. She actually felt heat fill her cheeks. “Not really
,” she lied. “Guess my mind was just wandering.”

  “Anywhere in particular?”

  Oh yes. But she couldn’t exactly tell him that, could she? She stalled and looked around the pretty, efficient kitchen. With white walls and white appliances, the room practically glowed. If it had been Daisy’s, she would have painted the cabinets a nice lemon yellow, but she absolutely loved the hand-painted porcelain sink. The herbs in the garden window over the sink looked bedraggled and neglected. They were as out of place in the neatly kept kitchen as Daisy was in the apartment itself. Suddenly she felt a lot of sympathy for the poor, forgotten herb garden.

  “Just…” Her brain scrambled as she searched for something—anything—to say. She watched him unload several white cartons.

  “Just what?”

  “I was thinking that I should probably be going home soon.”

  He stopped short, his hand in the silverware drawer, his gaze on her. “Already? It’s a little soon. I mean, you just had a baby and— There’s no rush, you know. You can stay as long as you like.”

  “I know.” And that was the problem. The longer she stayed, the longer she wanted to stay. Which would only make her eventual leaving that much harder. “Rita and Maria have both told me that over and over.” They’d been wonderful. But Daisy couldn’t help wondering if Alex’s sisters would be feeling so generous if they knew that she was developing a thing for their brother.

  “So, then, what’s the big hurry?”

  She pulled out a chair and eased onto it, her body still a little tender for quick movements. Propping her elbows on the tabletop, she looked up at him. “It’s not like I’m racing out of here, Alex. But I don’t belong here. And I have a home.”

  He snatched up a couple of forks, ripped two paper towels off the roll on the counter, then took a seat opposite her. Handing her a plate, fork and napkin, he started opening the small cartons and instantly, the delicious scents of beef and broccoli, cashew chicken and shrimp fried rice filled the room.

  “Yeah, I know you do,” he said, helping himself after she’d taken a serving of rice. “It’s just that I thought you were sort of enjoying it here and I—”

  “Oh, Alex, it’s been great. You’ve been great. And your sisters, too. But—”

  He set his fork down with a clatter and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. That uniform of his fit him like a second skin and made his tanned flesh look even darker. Rows of ribbons decorated his left breast pocket and Daisy wondered what he’d done, what dangers he’d had to face to win those medals.

  “Look, Daisy,” he said, “I know what it’s like to want to be in your own place.” He laughed shortly, sitting up to brace his arms on the table. “Hell, coming from my family, the first thing I can remember wanting was my own place.”

  She shook her head, not believing him. “Your family’s terrific, Alex. And I’ve seen you with your sisters. You’re very close.” A part of her that had been lonely for years really envied him the closeness he shared with his family.

  “Oh, they are,” he agreed. “There’s just too many of ’em. So I do understand that you want to be back on your own turf.”

  “Thank you.”

  “But,” he added with a lopsided smile that seemed to hit her even harder than a full on blast might have, “why be alone right now if you don’t have to be?”

  God, it was tempting. So tempting. But she couldn’t afford to allow herself to count on him. “Alex, you’re on leave. If I stay here, you’ll just feel like you have to keep me company, and I know you’ve got other things you have to do.”

  “Wrong.” He pushed the carton of chicken toward her. “Leave means I get to do whatever the hell I want to do.” He opened a carton of egg rolls and offered her one. “And what I want to do is spend time with you and the peanut.”

  A twist of something that was probably longing rippled through Daisy when he used the nickname he’d bestowed on Angel. Stalling, she took an egg roll and bit into it, savoring the tangy spices.

  “So, what do you think?” he asked. “You’ll stay a while longer?”

  She shouldn’t.

  If she had any sense at all, she’d pack up Angel and their few belongings and grab a cab back to her apartment.

  That was the smart thing to do.

  The safe thing.

  But Daisy had been trying to do the smart thing most of her life, and look where it had gotten her.

  So for once in her life, she did what she shouldn’t. She went with her heart.

  “A few more days,” she said, and when Alex grinned at her, Daisy’s heart turned over in a painful twist she told herself she’d better get used to.

  Six

  By the end of the week, though, Daisy couldn’t put off leaving any longer. She needed to get back to the real world. Her real world, anyway. As hard as it would be to leave the comfort and warmth of the old brownstone, she had to do so.

  Rita and Maria were wonderful about it. Though the three of them had become fast friends, Alex’s sisters understood her need to get back to her own place. To start seriously nesting, just she and the baby.

  Alex, on the other hand, didn’t seem to get it.

  “I don’t understand,” he said for what had to be the fourth time in the last half hour. “Why are you in such a big hurry to leave?”

  “I’ve been here a week, Alex,” Daisy reminded him as she lay the baby on the bed so she could change her diaper.

  “And…?” He sat down on the mattress near Angel, then stretched out alongside her, one hand smoothing her soft blond curls.

  “And,” Daisy countered, “I have a life. And an apartment—though not on the scale of this one—and it’s time to get back to it.” There. She’d pretty much been rehearsing that little speech all night. And it sounded so convincing even she nearly believed it.

  “You can’t have a life here?”

  She shot him a look and felt the zing of something wild and rich and hot whip through her bloodstream. Which was another excellent reason for leaving. Honestly, did his eyes actually get darker when he wanted to get his own way? Had he perfected the art of looking both extremely masculine and cuddly at the same time?

  Daisy affixed the tapes of her daughter’s diaper, then snapped up the legs of the little pink sleeper that had been a gift from Maria. “Yes, I could have a life here,” Daisy said softly. “It just wouldn’t be mine.”

  “Okay,” he said after a long, thoughtful pause. “You win.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  “Hey,” he said, “you should probably write this down in a journal or something. My family can tell you how rare it is for me to say those words.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  “I don’t like to lose.”

  “You haven’t lost anything,” she reminded him as he sat up and, as if it was second nature to him now, scooped her daughter into his arms and nestled her close to his chest.

  Lifting his gaze to hers, Alex said quietly, “Yeah. I have.”

  Something like a swarm of bees took flight in the pit of her stomach, and Daisy told herself not to make more of that statement. He was just being nice and didn’t mean at all what her out-of-alignment hormones were hoping he did.

  “Alex—”

  “So,” he interrupted as he stood up, still holding the baby as if she were a part of him. “You’re all packed?”

  Daisy gave him a wry smile. “It didn’t take long. I didn’t arrive with much, remember?”

  Reaching out, he smoothed her hair back from her face, then let his fingertips glide down the line of her cheek and sweep under her chin. Tilting her gaze up to his, he looked at her steadily for a long minute, then said, “Always.”

  When he and the baby left the room, Daisy plopped onto the mattress. When a woman’s knees turned to water, she reasoned, it was sit down or fall down.

  Her apartment building was nothing special. Clean and impersonal, the depressing beige walls of the lobby were decorate
d only by a line of mailboxes. Daisy stopped off at hers, and Alex was surprised to see how little mail had built up in a week. A couple of bills, an ad circular or two and that was it. Nothing personal. Nothing showing that someone, somewhere, had missed her.

  Having grown up in a family large enough to field its own baseball team, he had a hard time imagining being so completely alone. And he didn’t like to think of Daisy being lonely.

  Damn it.

  As they stepped into the waiting elevator, Alex carried the small suitcase Rita had provided to transport the things Daisy and the baby had accumulated in the last week. He listened to the hum and hiccup of the elevator and frowned as he rested one hand on Daisy’s shoulder in an instinctively protective gesture. The damn thing sounded like it was on its last legs.

  He made a mental note to look into it with the building super before he left.

  The elevator paused at the third floor, the doors slid open agonizingly slowly and a long-haired guy with ripped jeans and a dirty T-shirt got on. He gave Daisy a long, leering look that had Alex wanting to pummel him. But Daisy paid no attention. As wrapped up as she was in her baby daughter, she probably wouldn’t have noticed if a streaker had walked onto the elevator.

  Which worried Alex even more.

  Hell, if she paid no attention to her surroundings, how in the hell would she be safe? And if she wasn’t at his sisters’ place, how could he keep her safe? The fact that that really wasn’t his job didn’t seem to register with him.

  On the fourth floor, the guy in the torn jeans got off and gave Daisy a last leer as he loped down the hallway.

  “Who was that?” Alex asked.

  “Huh? What?” She lifted her gaze to his.

  “That guy. The one practically drooling on you. Who was he?”

  “Oh. I don’t know,” she said as the elevator doors closed and they started up again. “I don’t really know many people in the building. Did he look nice?”