“What if the time is never right.”
“Hmm…” Belle gave more attention to her husband’s words than his looks then. “Define ‘right’.”
“Exactly.” Pike sighed. “The idea of perfect timing for most people isn’t even a thing they can dream about.”
“Everyone dreams about it. Only the...idea of perfect timing is a little different for some than it is for others. When it’s all said and done...what will be, will be I guess.”
Pike considered Belle’s words and then nodded. “Time to let all the truths have their day, huh?”
“Yeah,” it was Belle’s turn
to sigh then. Her expression harbored concern when Pike pulled her
close for a hug. On her mind, was a certain truth that Persephone
was sharing with Hill and how its prior knowledge by a select few
would affect that ‘perfect time’ her husband
contemplated.
***
Los Angeles, California~
As she stood looking over the smorgasbord of mouthwatering treats, Darby DeBurgh couldn’t believe she was actually hesitating over loading down the plate she’d only filled with a sad few shrimp puffs.
It had finally happened, she thought. So much gorging over the last couple of weeks of her California PR trip, had finally desensitized her to the joys of non-stop snacking. Snacking was of course, one of the joys of pregnancy and she was hardly showing yet. No time for wimping out now, she thought, surveying the hotel restaurant’s brunch buffet with a more determined eye.
“I suggest the strawberry tarts.”
Darby heard the nearby voice and smiled up at the man who’d spoken. “Are they that good? I think I’ve lost my appetite.”
“I promise you’ll find it after a few bites of those.” The man’s brown eyes trailed Darby and made a lengthy stop at her very prominent bustline then outlined beneath a charcoal brown wrap dress.
“You should take it easy with them, though,” the man warned. “I want no part of ruining a figure like yours.”
“Don’t worry. Watching my figure is hopeless anyway,” Darby seemed oblivious to the man’s pronounced leer as she reached over to add a few tarts to her plate.
The man was as appreciative of Darby’s bottom as he’d been by her front when she leaned over the table. “I’d have to disagree,” he said when she straightened.
“Trust me,” Darby insisted. “It won’t matter in a few months. I'm expecting.”
Surprise registered on the man’s darkly handsome features. He roamed Darby’s curvy, brown frame once more and whistled low. “That’s one I never would’ve guessed.”
Darby laughed. “Well with the way I’ve been eating, it’s bound to catch up with me sooner or later.”
“That remains to be seen.” The man helped himself to another appraising perusal. “For the time being, you’re far too gorgeous to be roaming around on your own. You’ve already attracted way too much attention as it is. Your husband can’t be that cool with letting you out of his sight.”
“He’s not.”
The familiar Scottish baritone vibrated through Darby seconds before she was pulled back against her husband’s superb chest beneath a salt and pepper suitcoat and vest.
Darby’s admirer registered an expression of surprise that was due to more than an unexpected interruption. “DeBurgh?” He queried on an amused breath.
“Tesano.” Kraven DeBurgh’s tone sounded nowhere near as amused.
Sondrio Tesano grinned and was then extending a hand and laughing when Kraven accepted the gesture to shake. His brown eyes sparkled with still more amusement as well as curiosity then.
“What the hell are you doing out here?” Sondrio’s gaze slid back to Darby. “As if I need to ask with a face and body like this to keep you occupied. She’s a lovely one, Kray.”
“Darby DeBurgh,” Darby offered her name for introduction and to give the man another way to address her that would do less to endanger his attractive olive-skinned face. She could feel Kraven’s hand squeezing her hip and she knew he was fighting against clenching a fist.
“Sondrio Tesano,” the man replied then taking Darby’s hand for a shake that was more like a squeeze.
“And you?” Kraven tugged Darby back a ways to silently cue Sondrio to release her hand. “There’re usually at least two lovelies on your arm if I’m not mistaken.”
“True!” Chuckling in spite of himself, Sondrio scratched his temple where dark baby fine tendrils curled. “Unfortunately I’m here on business.”
“Well we won’t keep you. I know how demanding business is.”
As Darby silently processed the conversation between Kraven and this new Tesano, she couldn’t help but detect a sub-conversation at work. Sadly, her attempt to read between the lines of the conversation didn’t appear to be working. There was indeed more to the seemingly polite chatter.
Sondrio Tesano’s expression had sharpened just a fraction at Kraven’s mention of his ‘demanding business’. Satisfied by whatever he’d managed to rattle, Kraven put his trademark charming grin in place. He then laced it with the unmistakably animalistic chord he could so easily shift into gear.
“I don’t suppose we’ll get the chance to talk anymore before your work here is done.” Kraven’s words weren’t posed as a question, more a statement of fact.
Darby read between those lines clear enough. ‘Talking to my wife is bad for your health’, it said.
Sondrio kept his calm in the face of the elegant threat. “I’m afraid we won’t,” he confirmed, “I’m actually on my way back east. It’s that time of year again.”
“Mmm...funny how it comes round so often.”
Sondrio replied to Kraven’s dig with a single nod. “Have you seen my cousin lately?” He coolly inquired.
“Haven’t seen him in years,” Kraven returned just as coolly.
Sondrio gave a more enthusiastic nod then. “When Hill disappears, he does it right, huh?” Appearing more chipper, Sondrio engaged Kraven in another handshake, left Darby with a gentlemanly nod and was on his way.
