Stand-In Mum

“No.” The denial was quick, firm and accompanied with just a slight shudder. “Shayne says there’s only one unruly occupant in there.” Grinning at the chilling, mixed blessing of a multiple birth, Sydney rolled her eyes. “Please, I’ve got my hands full with Sara and Mac. Two new babies would be more than I think I could sanely handle.”

Sydney always underestimated herself, Marta thought. She was thoroughly convinced that Sydney could handle anything that life threw her way. Sydney had already proved that twice over, bouncing back from not one failed relationship, but two.

Too bad bouncing back wasn’t contagious, Marta thought before firmly dismissing the subject. She was here to enjoy her visit with Sydney, however brief, to catch up on Sydney’s life here, not dwell on her own past.

“That’s why I’m here,” Marta reminded her. “To help you ‘handle’ as much as I can in the next two weeks. And now that I’ve made my maiden flight, I’ll be back the very next vacation.” Marta smiled down at the swell of Sydney’s belly. “To be here when you give birth to that bundle you’re carting around—or shortly thereafter.”

Sydney had never asked Marta outright to come to Alaska—only said how much she wished her friend could be here and see the place for herself. Marta had never before been off the ground, choosing to take any overland route available to where she wanted to go. Sydney knew what making this trip had cost Marta and was grateful beyond words that she had come. She couldn’t imagine anyone she would have wanted in her corner more than Marta—with the exception of Shayne.

It had been a little over a year since she had last seen Marta. Then they had parted with Marta’s reluctant good wishes ringing in her ears and Marta’s dubious expression imprinted on her mind. Sydney knew that Marta had expected her to return to Omaha on the very next flight. When things abruptly turned sour on her, she almost had. But refusing to be defeated by the disappointment she’d initially discovered, Sydney had dug in and stayed.

Now, she was eternally grateful that she hadn’t turned around and come back to what had then been home to her. Glad that she’d remained here to make a life for herself.

Several lives, she amended silently, affection filling her as she passed her hand over her belly and thought of the child she and Shayne had created. And of the children they would create in the future. It was a good life. A life that she knew Marta would love if only she gave it half a chance.

She meant to try to convince her of that every opportunity she found. More than anyone, Marta deserved to finally be happy.

But first things first. Marta had to get settled in, Sydney thought. Then she could begin working on her.

The taller of the two, Sydney slipped an arm around Marta’s shoulders. “I can’t tell you how glad I am that you finally decided to bite the bullet and come out here.”

Marta curved her mouth—a generous mouth for a woman whose other features were so delicate—in amusement. “A little healthy panic never hurt anyone, I guess. Besides, I couldn’t stand not being able to see you like this for myself, at least once.”

Excited over seeing Marta again, Sydney had completely forgotten about the man who had accompanied her in the Cessna on the trip over here—until he cleared his throat. Loudly and with amusement.

Sydney flushed warmly as she turned toward him. His easygoing smile only made her feel worse for the oversight. “Where are my manners? Marta, this is—”

Marta held her hand up, stopping Sydney’s introduction in mid-sentence. Though leery of good-looking men the way only a woman who has been badly burned could be, she still had never been slow in appreciating the sight of one. And this one was good-looking with a capital G-L. Tall, and obviously muscular beneath the unzipped parka he had on, he had an olive complexion and cheekbones that could set the rhythm of a woman’s heart off by several beats. There was no question in Marta’s mind that the man with jet-black hair standing behind Sydney was nothing short of drop-dead gorgeous.

Just as Sydney had told her he would be.

“Yes, I know who he is.” Marta moved forward, throwing her arms around the man who looked a little surprised, as well as faintly amused, at her declaration. She liked the way he smiled. Damn, but Sydney was lucky. “Sydney said you’d be the most devastatingly handsome man at the airport.”

Momentarily overcome with emotion, Marta hugged just a tad harder. Sydney looked happy, and her letters had fairly sung of contentment. Any man who could do that for her best friend earned Marta’s unqualified affection and gratitude. “I thought she was exaggerating, but it looks like for once in her life, Sydney was making an understatement.”

On her toes, Marta gave Sydney’s companion what she felt was an appropriate, friendly kiss in greeting, her enthusiasm and happiness getting the better of her.

That Ike LeBlanc was surprised to have a petite, attractive redhead all but wrap herself around him within five minutes of their first meeting was putting it mildly. That this same woman then went on to kiss him with enthusiasm only compounded that surprise.

But Ike was never one to be caught off guard for more than a single heartbeat. Responding to stimuli faster than any clinical biochemist could ever have prayed for, Ike wrapped his arms around the woman’s trim, tempting frame and hugged her with the same enthusiasm she had displayed.

He returned not only the hug, but the kiss as well. With verve. If she was going to catch him in a lip lock, then he damn well was going to make it worth both their whiles.

With a barely perceptible sound of pleasure escaping, Ike tightened his embrace and deepened the kiss that God and this woman had chosen to bestow on him. Deepened it and felt his blood warming to an incredible, tantalizing degree. With the shortage of women in not only Hades, but in Alaska itself, he didn’t get to do this nearly as often as he would have liked. He was not about to throw the opportunity away.

For the briefest of seconds, Marta’s head swirled and her pulse throbbed, as her very skin heated to the temperature of a much sought-after hot springs in this February wilderness. Her body melted in response, and had begun molding against his when her brain finally caught up to the rest of her, issuing orders like a strict commandant. She reeled in sheer horror, disgust and embarrassment.

What was going on here? This was Sydney’s husband for heaven’s sake, and he was kissing her as if they had been intimate with one another all their lives.

What was even worse was that she had just kissed him back.

Appalled, Marta wedged her hands up against the man’s chest, shoving him away as hard as she could to break contact.

Coming up for air, Marta felt her jaw slacken as, for the second time in a matter of minutes, her mouth dropped open in overwhelmed surprise. The power of speech was temporarily and completely beyond her grasp. She could only stare at the man who had just effectively destroyed her cherished belief that no matter what, time moved relentlessly forward. It hadn’t moved on. For one tiny moment there, it had stood perfectly still, content to linger and hear nothing but the pounding of her heart and the soft sound made by her knees as they dissolved.

Chagrined and heartbroken for Sydney, as well as furious with this man who didn’t deserve to be her husband, Marta searched vainly for her tongue. She would have slapped him with all her might if Sydney hadn’t been standing right there, watching.

And how could she be standing there, watching, when her husband had all but seduced her best friend in a crowded airport?

Questions, oaths and outrage all scrambled through her mind. Marta swung around to face Sydney, apologies mingling with denouncements pulsating in her brain.

To her overwhelming surprise, Sydney looked completely unfazed. Maybe even a little amused and pleased. What was the matter with her? Had the overwhelmingly cold weather frozen her brain and snapped her brittle self-respect? Sydney’s husband was in the same shameful category as Alex Kelley had been.

“Sydney, don’t you mind?” Marta cried in dazed wonder.

The question struck Sydney as odd. “Why should I mind? Unless, of course, you didn’t like it.”

Although, Sydney thought, that hardly seemed likely. In the time she’d been here, Sydney had never met a single woman who complained about being kissed by Ike LeBlanc. Complained about not being kissed by Ike was more like it. Ike, with his dark good looks and his warm, sexy smile was what every woman’s dreams were made of. With the affection of an indulgent sister, Sydney was very surprised it hadn’t gone to his head. But sexy or not, Ike was well grounded, which was what made him so likable. And what made him Ike.

“Unless I didn’t like it?” Marta repeated dumbly.

“Did you?” Ike asked as he looked at Marta, mildly amused by the strangely disoriented expression on her face. She wasn’t alone in feeling that way. He had to admit that Sydney’s friend had managed to scramble more than one circuit on his motherboard with her kiss. Sweet and almost seductively submissive, the kiss had knocked him for a loop.

That rarely happened.

The lady bore scrutiny. A great deal of close scrutiny, he promised himself.

“No, I didn’t,” Marta said, squaring her shoulders. It was a bald-faced lie, but it was the only admission he was going to get out of her, the monster. What was he looking for, accolades? With his wife, ripe with his baby, standing almost at his elbow? Her eyes narrowed, shooting daggers at him. “And that’s not the point!”

Confused, Sydney and Ike exchanged looks. Sydney raised a single shoulder, then let it fall, silently letting him know that she had no more clue as to what was going on than he did.

She looked at Marta, completely bewildered. She knew all about Marta’s one failed, traumatic venture into love. Knew, too, that Marta’s heart, so eager to love, had been repeatedly bruised during her childhood when she had been passed around from one foster home to another. She’d had more than enough to overcome.

Had something else happened in the last year that Marta hadn’t written to her about? “What is the point, Marta?” Sydney asked.

“The point—” Marta felt as if she were strangling on her anger. She huffed, then began again. “The point is that your husband kissed me as if…as if…” She couldn’t find the words to define what had just happened here. “Well, he just kissed me.” Anyone with eyes could have seen just how.

Sydney looked around, half expecting to see Shayne appear. But that wasn’t possible. Still, Marta looked deadly serious.

“Shayne? When?”

Marta threw up her hands, exasperated. Was Sydney blind?

“Now.” She waved a disparaging hand at Ike. “Here.” For heaven’s sake, Sydney had been looking straight at her, at them, when it happened.

It was only then that Sydney grinned again, understanding flooding through her. Grinned while Ike laughed. The only one not in on the joke was Marta. But by the way Sydney was looking at Ike, she was definitely getting an inkling.

In a voice that was deadly still and steely, she asked, “You’re not Shayne?” knowing the answer before he said a word.