was? To fawn on people she despised? No, she thought, recoiling. She would have been lowering herself, not lifting herself to her husband’s level. She would have been as bad as he was, as dishonest, as shallow. She refused to feel guilty about the way she’d handled her life.
But her confidence had been battered, as well as her trust in men. In husbands. In love. It would be a long time before she would ever trust another man. Or feel confident enough in herself to take the risk of trusting another man.
Her eyes clouded. How would she ever find peace of mind until her husband’s massive debts were paid off…until Nicky had his infected tonsils removed and was fit and healthy again…until Grandpa’s painful hip was replaced?
Cain Templar watched the changing expressions in Mardi’s long-lashed amber eyes and wondered if it was repressed anger he was seeing, or a deeply buried pain and heartbreak. It was hard to tell.
She was a surprise to him. He’d been half expecting Darrell Sinclair’s widow to be a mousy little thing with a whining voice and little personality—a downtrodden, wishy-washy woman who’d been completely under her unfaithful husband’s thumb. But there was a natural warmth and vibrancy about her, a spontaneous spring in her step, which even her husband’s betrayal and the shock of his death hadn’t managed to quench.
And he’d seen her before, he realized. He’d bumped into her at Ben’s kindergarten last September, on the morning he’d left for New York. He’d had no idea who she was then, or that the boy with her was Ben’s friend Nicky. Normally his wife or a babysitter had driven Ben to and from kindergarten each day, but on that particular day he’d had a late-morning plane to catch and had taken Ben to St. Mark’s himself.
He’d barely glanced at the woman at the gate—an ordinary, unremarkable woman, he’d thought in that first fleeting glimpse. And then his gaze had collided with hers, and the unusual amber color of her eyes, beneath her long golden lashes, had caught his attention for an unsettling instant, the morning sunlight turning her eyes to pure gold. Her soft brown hair, pulled back in a neat ponytail—far neater than it was now—had caught the sun, too, and gleamed with honeyed highlights.
Little did he know then that their lives would become entwined a few months later in the most bitter of ways. Her husband…and his wife. His chest heaved. And their sons, by a cruel twist of fate, were best friends.
Which was why he was here now. The only reason he was here, he reminded himself sharply.
“As I said, I’m here because of Benjamin, my son.” Cain’s voice was harsher than he’d intended it to be. He felt oddly off balance, struck again by the steady warmth of those unusual amber eyes, regarding him unblinkingly through wayward honeyed strands from her loosening ponytail.
Annoyed at his reaction, he flicked his gaze away, letting it sweep down her flour-smudged T-shirt to her equally grubby shorts, which looked as if she’d wiped her floury hands on them.
“My son’s becoming uncontrollable,” he admitted grimly, trying not to look at the long, lightly tanned legs below the short shorts. Disgusted with himself for even noticing them, he snapped his gaze away from her altogether, to stare at the wall behind. What was it about this ordinary suburban housewife that was causing this edginess in him?
“Ben’s very moody,” he muttered, dragging his thoughts back to his son. “He won’t do as he’s told, he has temper tantrums like a two-year-old and he’s been through at least five baby-sitters since my—since Christmas.”
Five baby-sitters? Mardi felt a rush of compassion for the small boy who’d lost his mother and been left with strangers since. Why hadn’t his father taken time off work and cared for the boy himself during the long summer holidays?
“I’ve tried everything,” Cain Templar growled. “I’ve even taken odd days off myself, when an incompetent baby-sitter has let me down.”
Odd days off… How magnanimous of him, Mardi thought in scorn. Obviously today wasn’t one of those odd days. She glared at his immaculate business suit and tie, guessing that he’d come here straight from his office. No rushing home to his son first….
“Where is Ben now?” she asked, feeling for the boy.
“He’s with a new baby-sitter.” Cain grimaced. “I’ve spoken to Ben on the phone and he says he hates her already. I had to dangle the bait of McDonald’s to calm him down.” He shook his head. “It’s not as if he’s had nothing to do during the holidays. He’s been to playgrounds and kids’ movies and the beach, and I’ve arranged for our friends’ children to come and play with him, but he doesn’t seem to care about anything or anyone.” His mouth tightened. “Anyone except—”
“He’s just lost his mother!” Mardi cried, wanting to forestall what she guessed he was about to say. Anyone except his friend Nicky. Ben, she thought regretfully, would have to forget Nicky.
Cain Templar’s blue eyes grew remote, unreadable, at the mention of Ben’s mother. “It’s been weeks now. He’s getting worse, not better.”
“The long summer holidays can drag for a small child. He should be okay once he starts school.” Only, he won’t find Nicky there. “There’s only another week to go,” she said brightly.
“It’s not his mother or St. Mark’s that Ben’s missing,” Cain said flatly.
Mardi held her breath, at a loss to know how to stop what she knew was coming. “It’s his friend Nicky. Your son, Nicky. Ben keeps asking if he can play with him. I’ve tried every diversion I can think of. I was sure you wouldn’t want to encourage their friendship any more than I do.”
She shook her head vigorously. At least they agreed on that!
His chest swelled in a sigh. “But keeping Ben away from Nicky hasn’t worked. It’s just made him more rebellious and difficult. I don’t know if Nicky’s been missing Ben, too….”
His eyes pierced hers and she found herself floundering. How could she deny it? “Mmm…”
He looked satisfied. “Well, the only solution, as I see it, is to let them play together and hope they’ll get sick of each other before long, as young children do.”
She swallowed. “And if they don’t?”
He drew in his lips. “Once they’re both back at St. Mark’s, with other children around, they’ll make other friends.”
She took a deep breath. “Nicky won’t be going back to St. Mark’s this year.”
His eyebrows shot up. “Why not? Even if you move out of the area, you’ll still want to send your son to St. Mark’s, won’t you, where he’ll be with children he knows? It would be a shame not to go back…it’s a very good school.”
Very good, and very expensive, Mardi thought, but as she began to shake her head, Cain gave a wry smile.
“Keep them apart and they’ll only go on pining for each other.”
She puffed out a sigh. Heck, Cain Templar was persistent. “Throw them back together and they’re more likely to get closer to each other, if I know Nicky.” Nicky was loyal to a fault. “Look, it’s best if they don’t see each other at all. Nicky won’t be going back to St. Mark’s, so there’s really no more to be said.”
“But
