Page 53 of Staking His Claim

But the edginess wouldn’t leave him. “Uh—I have to go to a charity function tomorrow night.”

Today was D-Day.

Was he taking too much of a risk, leaving it until tomorrow? Even though Ella had said she’d only make a decision about Holly after Christmas?

“Yes?”

There was confusion in Ella’s voice.

“I accepted several weeks ago.” While he’d still been dating Nadiya. “For myself and a partner. I was wondering whether you would be prepared to come with me?”

His grip on the cell phone tensed.

“You want me to go on a date with you?”

Yevgeny couldn’t tell whether she was annoyed or amused. Nor did he want to point out that technically they’d been on two dates already—one he’d orchestrated at her home with food from La Rosa and the second at the park earlier.

“That’s what was so urgent?”

The disbelief in her tone made him writhe.

Because he wasn’t being truthful.

Turning away from the glass wall, he started to pace again. “The organizer called me to get my partner’s name for the table lists— I needed to let her know.”

“Urgently?” she asked pointedly.

“Yes— The function is tomorrow.” He’d forgotten all about taking a date. Hell, finding a woman had been far from his thoughts these past couple of weeks. The only female that filled his head had been Holly—and Ella. But she didn’t really count.

“Why me?”

He hesitated again. He’d reached the silver-and-black open-plan kitchen. He swung around. Then stopped. He drew a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Then he leaned back against the kitchen counter.

God, he was becoming more and more tangled in this deception—even though he’d planned to be honest and put an end to it all.

“Because I can’t believe you haven’t got someone else in your little black book you could call,” she blurted out when he didn’t answer.

Yevgeny found himself grinning. “I don’t have a little black book.”

She clicked her tongue. “The contacts list in your phone, then.”

How to admit that none of them stirred his interest enough? His mind skittered away from the terrifying specter that thought raised—the only person he wanted to ask was Ella. Because that had to be wrong. It could never be true.

She was prickly and defensive. Not his type.

She reminded him of his mother.

Or did she? Flashes of Ella laughing with Holly. Of how she looked at the baby. Of her gentle cloying concern for her sister. Of her care for her elderly parents.

For the first time he realized that his assumption was quite untrue: Ella was nothing like the woman who had given birth to him—and then deserted him.

Ella would never desert Holly.

She planned to stay in touch with a baby who was never meant to be hers. She only wanted what she considered the very best for Holly—even though Yevgeny didn’t share her views.

“Why me?” she asked again.

“Because you would probably have held it against my proposed adoption if I turned up with a beauty queen from my contacts list.”

There was a silence in response to his facetious reply.

Then she said, “I don’t think—”

“Please,” he said abruptly, kicking himself for not holding his tongue.

“You could go alone, you know.”

“I probably will. It’s a charity event—I’d feel bad not showing up.” With a sigh, he said, “You would’ve enjoyed the ballet.”

“Ballet?”

Yevgeny held his breath.

“Which ballet?”

A vision of two pairs of ballet slippers with faded satin ribbons danced before his eyes. He had her! A smile curved his lips up. “Giselle.”

He heard as she sucked her breath in. Finally she said, “I’d love to come with you to the ballet.”

* * *

Ella set the phone down, terminating the connection to Jo Wells.

The day she’d been waiting for had arrived. Yevgeny was due to pick her up in—Ella glanced at her watch—two hours. She still had to beat the rush-hour traffic home, see that Deb had handed Holly over to the night caregiver, express milk for Holly’s night bottle, shower and glam herself up. Now Jo was on her way, too.

Of course, everything always did happen at once.

The social worker had identified a couple whom she believed met every one of Ella’s criteria. A professional couple who’d already adopted a two-year-old girl, they had a very good relationship with their daughter’s biological parents and grandparents. Their home was located in a rural suburb of Auckland, less than forty minutes drive from where Ella lived. The property abounded with pets and ponies, with a garden that led down to the sea.