Steele Taking Care of Business
By: Phaedra Phelan

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E-mail: PrissyBNY@aol.com
Summary: What happened when Remington and Laura come face-to-face with Wilson Jeffries and his problems a second time, after their marriage is well under way.
Disclaimer: This “Remington Steele” story is not-for-profit and is purely for entertainment purposes. The author and this site do not own the characters and are in no way affiliated with “Remington Steele,” the actors, their agents, the producers, MTM Productions, the NBC Television Network or any station or network carrying the show in syndication, or anyone in the industry.

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Remington and Laura came into their apartment from the office in the afternoon to find their children all in a state because they were suffering from colds. It was during Laura’s pregnancy with their fourth child. She was nearly five months along and obviously showing at this point and she and Remington were both very happy to be having another baby but she was still nursing Michael so her breasts were constantly swollen for him. Their twin girls Cassie and Chlöe were both five years old and Michael was a thriving two year old. Of course the two oldest adopted children, Jonathan, at nearly nine and Joanna, at seven were truly a part of their family as well. Running constantly behind five children and keeping the agency going kept Laura very busy and that, combined a case of an intestinal virus for over a two week period had caused her to drop weight precipitously so that her baby bump was very much in evidence at this point in her pregnancy. Remington watched Laura undress and became aware of the weight she had lost and drew her into his arms.

“Darling, I have to say that I am concerned that things are entirely too much for you now. You are tired and you are still nursing Michael and you are pregnant and you have been ill. I must insist that you step back and restore your energy. I think that you should take at least another week off from the office.”

“Rem, I just can’t do that. There is so much to do. I am just fine.”

“No, you’re not. And I’m not either. You have been so tired that we have not even been able to keep our personal ‘schedule,’ so to speak.”

Remington drew Laura close and kissed her tenderly and Laura began to cry.

“I guess that I am truly tired. This pregnancy is taking quite a bit out of me. And I didn’t plan on getting that virus.”

“Well, you are breastfeeding and pregnant and working like a crazy woman. There is only so much that you can do. We are going to have to consider hiring another person for the office to help with the paper work so that you can catch up with yourself.”

“Can we afford it?”

“We will afford it. There is money, Laura, and we will use it. Uncle David’s gift of those silver mines in Canada has been quite an addition to our resources. I think that it will be money well spent. And there is the income from the vineyards in France. We need Esperanza to continue full-time with the new baby coming in a few months. We may have to let someone come some evenings to help with the other children as well. We already have five children with Jonathan and Joanna. We will soon be a family of six. We are a growing family, darling. Neither of us seems to want to limit the growth of our family. You tell me, darling. Do you want this to be our last little one?”

“I haven’t thought about that. I am enjoying having our babies so much. I love feeling . . . full like this . . . knowing that you and I did this together. As long as I am healthy, I would like to exercise a minimum of caution and then just see what the Lord sends.”

Remington touched her swelling belly.

“It is beautiful to see you like this. And just the thought that you find joy in carrying for me overwhelms me; but we have to keep you healthy, love.”

Remington bent to kiss her again and bore her back onto their bed and began to caress her, loosening her brassiere so that her full breasts could be exposed to his kisses as well.

“Remy, you are right . . . as always. I guess that I just want to do too much. I’ve missed ‘our time’ the last several nights waking up before dawn to give each other proper attention.”

“You have been so tired, sleeping so hard, that I dared not waken you with my passionate needs. But I miss those moments, darling. I miss those moments so much. There is no need for you to push yourself like this. We can take care of our children, take care of each other, and take care of all the other matters that concern us.”

Remington caressed her swelling baby bump over and over and then he drew the covers up over them and held her as she dropped off to sleep from sheer fatigue. He did not press her to take care of his needy state. He loved her too much to be inconsiderate and selfish.

Remington left Laura sleeping and went into the kitchen to make a light snack for the two of them. He was truly concerned about his woman. They were going to have to decide what the priority in their lives was going to be. If they were going to put family first, they would have to hire someone else to help in the office so that Laura would not exhaust herself.

He made a tray with soup, salad and a chocolate milkshake and carried it back into the bedroom for Laura.

“Love, you have to eat something now to feed that baby and those lovely lactation machines,” he said.

Laura turned over and smiled at him as the covers slipped off her naked breasts. Remington nostrils flared slightly as his flesh reacted to the sight of his wife’s swollen breasts and pregnant belly.

Laura attacked the food and Remington went into the bathroom to try to settle himself down. The sight of her full nursing breasts when her belly was swelling again with his baby affected him so. When Laura finished the meal, she turned to Remington and snuggled into his chest.

“You are so good to me. Just make me do what I should do here. I need you to take charge of me. For the first time in my life I admit that I need a man to take charge of my life. I thought that I just needed you sexually, that ours was simply a fantastic love affair, but I need you to help me, Remy. Please take care of me and take care of our baby while I’m like this. Protect me, love.”

Her eyes were full of tears as she clung to her husband and Remington cherished her in his embrace, cooing to her, wrapping her up in his love for her. His heart was so full that his eyes spilled over as she submitted to him in a way that she had never done before.

“I’m your man and your man . . . is going to take care of you, darling. Can you have confidence in me to do that?”

“Yes . . . yes.” Laura broke down in his arms.

“Then let’s just lie down and share some private time so that I can take my mind off my passions and come up with some ideas for us with all the responsibility we have here. Darling, I need you in the worst way. I’m climbing the walls here.”

Remington led Laura back to bed and they lay down together. Remington kissed his wife over and over as his aroused flesh took him over and they came together with Laura pulling him deep inside her as they lay together, both of them moaning in ecstasy as they found their rhythm together.

“Oh, Remy, I do need you this evening. I need you, Remy.”

“I know you do. Laura . . . Laura . . . Laura”

They both came quickly to the acme and were out of their heads as they shook and vibrated together till they finally were at peace in each others arms.

“Thank you, darling. Thank you for taking care of this beast I carry around with me all the time.”

Laura smiled at him, a smile that was a promise.

“I think that beast is still hungry,” she said, well aware that he was still very aroused.

“I . . . I think that I should go get Michael for his evening feeding, love. We . . . we’ll have more time later.”

Remington got Michael and brought him to their bed where the little one promptly found Laura’s breast and began to nurse. The twin girls followed into their parents’ bedroom and climbed up on the bed and began to play with their father. Then Jonathan and Joanna joined them. Remington tossed them and hugged them, playing with them and kissing them as Laura lay watching, nursing her son. Finally Michael fell asleep at his mother’s breast and Remington took him and put him to bed and then took the other children and put them to bed as well.

When he came back to the bedroom, he lay down beside her.

“I think that what we need to do, Laura, is set up a different schedule for you. Three days each week is as much as you can spend in the office right now. You have to protect your health and the health of the wee one you’re carrying. I will be there every day and I will bring you whatever paperwork you want to take care of here. Every other morning I will leave you here in bed, getting your beauty sleep and I will go to the agency and be Remington Steele.”

Laura knew that he was right and she just nodded her head and accepted his idea. She drew Remington into her arms and he kissed her in that way that told her that he was about to literally blow her mind.

“Oh, Remy . . . baby . . . Remy,” Laura sighed.

She started to frantically pull at Remington’s shirt and his soft sweat pants.

“Take it easy, love. We have all night to do this.”

Remington slipped his shirt off and Laura buried her face in the hair of his chest. She wanted to smell the scent of his skin, the scent of his cologne, the scent of the thick hair under his arms. She pulled his sweat pants down, releasing his parts from their confinement and took hold of him and brought him inside her.

“Yes! Yes! Oh, babe! Yes! Take me! I need you to take me!”

They came together with an intensity that took their breath away and immediately began to rotate together in the rhythm that would culminate in the exhilarating relief they both craved so much.

“Remy! Remy! Yes!”

Laura’s vision blurred as her body flooded Remington’s with fragrant nectar and her flesh surrendered to him in spasm after spasm.

Remington groaned and grunted as he felt the pressure in his loins build to the point that he knew so well, that point when his testicles seemed ready to explode if he did not release their potent load.

“Oh, God! I’m gone,” he cried out as he began to ejaculate. “Yes, Lord! Oh, Jesus! Yes!”

Remington held her fast as the acme swept over them and their bodies jerked in concert in spasm after spasm.

“Darling . . . darling, I love you, woman. Tell me you love me, Laura! I need . . . I need to hear it . . . today from you.”

“I love you . . . love you so much I . . . I can’t breathe . . . for loving you,” Laura gasped the words, realizing that this was one of those times when Remington needed reassurance of her love. “I love you, baby!”

“Thank you . . . thank you for taking care of me, Laura. I . . . I want to take care of you, love. You’re everything to me, woman. You’re carrying my child in your belly and it is such a lovely sensual thing to see your body so ripe and fertile like this . . . and your beautiful breasts, Laura. And when you open your thighs to me, you take me to paradise. I’m in paradise! You take me to paradise, woman.”

“You take me to paradise, baby . . . every time you make love to me, you take me to paradise. I love you so much.”

Laura opened her thighs wide for him and Remington growled happily, stroking her intimate parts, kissing her breasts and belly as they lay still joined together till finally Remington just buried his head between her breasts as his passions overwhelmed him again and their need seized them again, their bodies grinding in rhythm together till the climax suddenly gripped them and left them babbling incoherently to each other.

Laura drifted off to sleep. She was exhausted from their extended session of lovemaking and Remington lay quietly, listening to her breathe, thinking about the depth of his love for her, just content to hold her in his arms.

Remington and Laura spent the weekend catching up on their rest and taking the time to confirm their love to each other and by Monday morning Laura was ready to get back to work with the new schedule that she and Remington had agreed upon.

Laura took little Michael with her to the office these days because he was still nursing and so they headed off to the office together with Michael sleeping contentedly in his car seat while Remington steered them expertly through Los Angeles traffic.

“You look fabulous, darling. I am glad to see that you are putting the weight back on that you lost. You are gorgeous pregnant and I love that dress.”

Remington was quite partial to wrap dresses and she had found a sage green Diane von Furstenberg silk knit dress that wrapped snugly around her pregnant belly and showed barely a hint of the glorious cleavage where her nursing breasts were nestled together. It also just skimmed the top of her knees, showing her great legs.

“And you are just gorgeous anytime, Remy,” Laura said. “You are my beautiful, beautiful husband. God knows I just love to look at you, especially at your beautiful backside. And you look so satisfied today. Did I satisfy you, love?”

Remington flushed when his wife told him how physically handsome he was. He never tired of hearing that from her. All the subtle as well as blatant compliments from other women never had the effect of one of Laura’s straightforward declarations of his masculine beauty. He thrived on and craved her verbal expressions of love and appreciation of his physical attributes as much as she did on his.

When they walked into their suite of offices, they were very surprised to see a familiar face sitting there waiting for them. It was obvious that he was surprised to see them in their family setting—Laura, gorgeous, happy, and obviously pregnant and Remington carrying their young son in his arms.

“Wilson! What a surprise!” Laura exclaimed.

“Well, what have we here?” Wilson responded, his voice revealing that he was quite surprised to see them in this setting as well.

“So, Wilson Jeffries, what brings you here today?” Remington asked, trying very hard to remain congenial. “Give us a minute to get our son Michael settled and we will be with you.

Mildred, we will call you when we are ready to speak with Mr. Jeffries.”

They went into Remington’s office and put Michael into the playpen that was there and stood for a long moment facing each other.

“Laura, what do you want to do about Wilson? No doubt he has a pressing problem he needs your help with. We need to decide in advance what we are going to tell him. Personally I prefer to send him somewhere else, but I will yield to you on this. It’s your call. Really I would tell him to ‘go to hell.’ It’s taken years for you to recover from the way he treated you. And he is so obtuse that he doesn’t even realize what he did to you.”

Michael began to fret and Laura went to pick him up from his play pen.

Mildred looked at the rather ordinary and quite stressed prospective client in front of her and realized that this was the man that had caused Laura so much grief.

Good Lord! Miss Holt was worried about this man leaving her? He did her a favor. This man is not a fraction of the man her Mr. Steele is.

The buzzer sounded and Mildred answered it.

“You may send Mr. Jeffries in, Mildred.”

Wilson Jeffries came into Remington Steele’s office, somewhat diffidently, aware of the history that they all shared.

“I’m glad to see you both, Remington and Laura. I guess quite a bit of time has passed. I somehow felt that you two would end up together but I never figured you for the motherly type, Laura.”

“Actually we have been married for more than six years. We have a set of twin girls five years old, this toddler, Michael, and you can see that we are expecting another baby in a few months,” Laura said.

“Yes, I see that you two are quite a family.”

Wilson was unable to take his eyes off Laura, her radiant state of pregnancy in addition to the radiance that she still exuded from being with Remington sexually earlier leaving him transfixed.

“And you, Wilson?” Remington drew him back to reality.

“No wife, no children. I guess I’ve been married to my job. Actually that is what is in jeopardy and the reason that I had to come to you. Someone at the bank is involved in a bank fraud scheme. I discovered it during a routine audit which I did of the books. I’m still just an accountant at heart. Now I don‘t know what to do.”

“Do you know who is responsible for this, Wilson?” Laura asked, trying to focus on the matters at hand.

“Not for certain. I have an idea though. I just don’t know how to protect my job when all this comes to light.”

“You may not be able to protect your job, but you may be able to avoid being prosecuted if you bring this to light. You need to present your proof of this to the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission and let them handle the rest,” Remington said.

“I have access to the incriminating material, but I think that someone else at the bank is aware that I am tracking this. I brought some of the evidence along with me. I am rather unnerved at this point.”

“And so you should be. When millions of dollars are at stake, your life becomes of very little value,” Laura said. “You are going to need to turn the information over to the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission and then go into hiding till this is resolved.” She turned to her husband. “Rem, I’m going into my office to nurse Michael. You talk with Wilson and decide if we can take the case.”

Remington watched Laura carry Michael into the other office and he and Wilson sat regarding each other for a long moment before Remington spoke.

“You don’t feel anything, do you?”

“Feel anything? I . . . I don’t understand.”

“Since Laura has stepped away, I am going to take advantage of this moment to tell you something, Jeffries. You are a selfish prick. You used Laura, cohabited with her for a year and then left—no reason given, no explanation. Then you waltzed back into her life six or seven years ago, needing help—still no explanation of your previous behavior. Now here you come again with your problems. Do you know the pain you caused her by your insensitive actions? She fancied herself in love with you and you walked away with nary a backward glance. It took years for her to trust a man again after such shoddy treatment. Do you have any idea how long it took me to convince her that my love for her was permanent, that she wouldn’t look up one day and find me gone?”

“I . . . I didn’t realize.”

“That’s what I said. You are a callous son of a bitch, Jeffries.”

“I . . . I accept whatever you say. I never felt right about how things ended between Laura and me. But I . . . I just wasn’t enough for her . . . enough man for her. I knew it. She pretended that I satisfied her but I saw through it. You know, women think a man doesn’t know when they just pretend to be satisfied, but a man knows. What was I to do? Laura was always . . . always wanting more from me . . . more sex. She was so passionate. I will be honest with you; I just couldn’t get it up more than once a week. If I tried to do more than that, I was useless at work. I don’t blame her for any of it. I blame myself, but what could I do but withdraw from the situation, Steele.”

“Why didn’t you tell her that you were leaving for that reason? Why would you leave her thinking that she was somehow the one to blame? She is a normal healthy woman and had a right to expect that you would meet her passionate needs.”

“I had my pride. I couldn’t bring myself to say to her that I did not think that I could ever meet her needs. I have not been in a serious relationship since Laura. I don’t deserve to disappoint another woman that way.”

At that moment Laura came back into Remington’s office. Wilson could not bring himself to look at her. Remington’s face was hard, his blue eyes like ice and his jaw set as he stared Wilson Jeffries down.

“Jeffries is going to leave the material he has gathered with us and we will look at it and decide what our recommendations might be. We will get back to you within the next twenty-four hours, Jeffries.”

Wilson looked at Laura helplessly.

“Forgive me, Laura. I can only say that I wanted you to be happy . . . and I couldn’t seem to make you happy. I am glad that you and Steele here have made it. You are a beautiful person and you deserve every moment of happiness that you have.”

Remington did not say anything else as he let Jeffries out of his office. He was obviously irritated with the man but at the same time he was glad to have heard from the man himself his reasons for his actions.

“You confronted him, didn’t you?”

“Yes. I couldn’t let him waltz in and out of our lives again without clearing the air.”

“And . . .” Laura queried.

“He said that he knew that he wasn’t satisfying you sexually, that you were only ‘pretending’ to be satisfied, that he couldn’t give you what you needed ‘often enough’ and his pride prevented him from telling you the reason when he left.”

Laura sat down, stunned that Wilson would have revealed the whole story to Remington. Her eyes filled with tears and she reached for Remington who took her into his arms and just held her as she cried. Her tears were tears of relief as she finally realized that Wilson’s leaving had not been for the reasons she had believed for so long.

“It’s all right, love. You . . . your amazing femininity, your tremendous sex drive are all such special gifts to the man who is blessed to have you as his woman. You have me and you know I will take care of all your passionate needs . . . whatever and whenever you want because I love you with all that I am. We are a pair, you and me, babe.”

Remington kissed Laura on her mouth soundly and she melted against him as her mouth opened under his and accepted his caresses till they were salivating for one another.

“I love you so much, Remy. I do love you.”

“Now you have to promise me, Laura. All that moaning and groaning and wailing you do is for real. No pretending now, lassie.” Remington’s blue eyes were dancing as he gently teased her, smiling that heart-melting smile she knew so well, slapping her softly on her behind.

“You know I can’t help myself when you touch me, Remy,” Laura answered him back.

“Darling, are you telling me that when you quiver all over from your head to your lovely toes with your teeth chattering and your eyes rolling back into your head when it happens for you, that that is really you ‘going all the way down the river,’ so to speak?”

“Rem, you are the only man to ever take me ‘all the way down the river.’ I . . . I did sigh and gasp . . . a little . . . for him,” Laura said in a small voice. “But he never got it together enough or kept it long enough for me. And when I begged him for more, he made me feel like I was a slut.”

“Darling, he knew he wasn’t really taking you ‘there,’ let us say. And he didn’t have any more to give you. He told me that he was hard pressed to rise to the occasion with you once a week. Why didn’t you walk away from him? Why did you wait till he left?”

“I don’t know. I guess I thought something was wrong with me. And I thought that Wilson was ‘safe.’ ”

“There is nothing wrong with you. You are a gorgeous passionate woman who needs a suitable consort, not a neurasthenic prick who can’t keep his tip up long enough to pleasure his woman. Let’s close the chapter on Wilson Jeffries now once and for all, darling. We can take his case. I know now what I needed to know about him. He confessed it himself and I know that it takes a lot for a man to admit the things about himself he did today.”

Remington held Laura close and kissed her mouth over and over slowly and deliberately again, his nostrils flaring gently, his face turning ruddy.

“Remy, you make me totally crazy when you kiss me like that.”

“That is because I know how to satisfy you. I know that I can take care of you sexually. You know it and I know it. I know what you want and I know what you need and I can give it to you all night long.” He paused before continuing. “And you know that you make me totally crazy too, Laura.”

“You are so amazing and I love you so much,” Laura said in his embrace.

Remington looked for Michael.

“Where is the wee one?”

“He’s sleeping for now. I nursed him while you and Wilson were talking.”

“I’ll put him in the crib in your office and we are going to steal a few moments together before he wakes, if you promise not to make too much noise when you experience that ‘magical moment.’ Please call Mildred and tell her not to disturb us for the next hour . . . for any reason.”

Laura gave Mildred the appropriate instructions and then Remington led her to the leather sofa in his office. He took her hand and drew her down onto it. He had taken his jacket off and he took up kissing Laura again, unfastening her wrap dress and rubbing her pregnant belly.

“Tell me, when did you begin to believe that I could make you happy, Laura?”

“Only if you tell me when you began to believe that I could make you happy,” Laura answered.

“I knew it that first night when we rode in the limo together. You were wearing that sensible gray tweed business suit and that Je Reviens cologne mingled with the marvelous scent of you and I was intoxicated, Laura. I wanted you so that night. You were so vulnerable and yet at the same time so strong.”

“I knew it when you kissed my hand during that first case. And I felt your excitement when you pulled me up against you when we danced together. It was so hard for me to be angry with you when I felt your flesh against mine when you held me.”

“I was trying to restrain myself but you were wearing that strapless dress with all your freckles showing and it just suddenly turned me on. I felt the purest of lust for you that night.”

“And you said all that about ‘years from now.’ You knew that you wanted to be with me, didn’t you?”

“Guilty as charged, love. I was caught between so many different emotions that I just blurted out what was in my heart. The words just came out. I could not keep them from coming out at that moment.”

Remington loosened Laura’s bra so that her full breasts rolled free and he bent his dark head to kiss her breasts over and over, gently sucking her nipples and brushing his cheeks against their softness.

“Um . . . I wanted to do this all day . . . suckle like this.”

Laura sighed passionately, as he brought her along with him.

“You taught me the beauty of patience, Remy, how to enjoy every aspect of our sensual connection. Every other man I was with, and especially Wilson, I . . . I always thought I had to hurry or I wouldn’t get . . . what I needed or it would just go away. You taught me that we don’t have to rush, that you will always have what I need to take me where I need to be taken.”

“Have I ever failed to give you what you need, darling?”

“Never . . . not once.”

Laura unbuttoned Remington’s shirt so that she could touch his manly chest with its luxuriant growth of silky black hair and then she pulled his shirt out of his slacks and unzipped them and pulled them down. He was there for her, the ready tool that she knew so well, intact, supple, its length marked with the Chalmers strawberry birthmark.

When Laura caressed him, he groaned softly and became helpless in her hand. He was like a man possessed when she touched him like this, his face contorting as ecstasy swept him. Remington kicked his trousers completely off, pushed Laura’s dress away and pulled off her lace panties so that he could touch her as well as he kissed her again and again.

“I love you so much, woman. Can you imagine how much I love you at this moment?”

Laura smiled at him, her features made even more radiant by the voluptas she was experiencing as he touched her.

“I can only hope that you love me . . . half as much as I love you.”

“Darling . . . woman . . . light of my life,” Remington whispered as he continued to embrace her breasts and feel the fullness of her pregnant belly, basking in pleasure of physical contact with his woman.

He drew the afghan on the sofa over them to cover them so that their joining would not be visible in the event little Michael wakened and then he drew her across his thighs so that they could connect without him placing pressure on her belly. Laura felt his upward penetration of her and she cried out softly as he filled her completely and began to rotate beneath her and thrust upward at the same time, his blue eyes fixed upon her as she moaned over and over. The fullness of her breasts was his to enjoy as they connected this way and he sighed as he enjoyed the fragrance of her perfume mingled with her personal scent from between her breasts.

“Oh, Laura . . . Laura . . .”

“Are you getting what you need, lover?”

“Yes . . . yes, babe.”

They were caught up in the rhythm they knew well. They were so secure in their capacity to please one another that they relaxed and let the pleasure just wash over them this day as he held Laura onto him.

“You . . . don’t feel I’m too forward?” Laura teased him.

“You are so forward that I am going to have to spank your arse, you lovely wench. No wonder that poor bloke couldn’t handle you.”

Remington nipped her shoulder with his teeth and Laura squealed softly; then he pinched her round hips and slapped her buttocks and Laura laughed and gasped and moaned, gripping him in one tight spasm after another, releasing copious amounts of the nectar that she produced when she was supremely excited. When Remington felt the warm flood of her essence, he was gone.

“Laura! Lau . . . ra!”

His flesh began to twitch inside her and then he exploded in climax, releasing spurt after spurt of his own potent load as they both saw the brilliant blue and white lights flashing in their brains.

“Oh, Lord! I’m . . . I’m gone, woman!”

“Remy . . . Remy . . . I love . . . you . . . so,” Laura moaned as she surrendered completely to him.

Laura was like a kitten in his arms at the moment of supreme capitulation and he held her, kissing her tenderly over and over, as they whispered the love words that always spilled from their lips at moments like this as they slowly sank in to the afterglow.

“I know why they call this the postlude, Remy. My whole body is singing and singing, love.”

“I know . . . I know. Thank you, darling, for marrying me and making me the happiest man there could be.”

Laura lay on his chest and gradually drifted off to sleep in her husband’s arms.

It was nearly half an hour later when Michael began to fret and they wakened, looked into each others eyes, and saw the memory of their afternoon there. There was also the knowledge that the specter of Wilson’s leaving her would never interfere in their marriage again. Laura was a woman confident in her sexuality now, confident in the love of the man that held her in his arms.

“Let’s just get dressed, love, and go home for the day. We needed this time together and we will finish this later at home . . . in our bed.”

“Oh, Remy,” Laura’s voice was just a whisper. “I can hardly get myself together. My body is still fluttering so.”

Remington kissed her very tenderly over and over, stroking her hair and attempting to ease her intensely passionate feelings.

“You are so beautiful when you are like this, darling. I just want to lie here with you and tell you over and over how much I love you.”

“Please, tell me,” Laura begged.

“I love you more that I love my life, more than I thought possible to love anyone or anything. I love you so much that my heart jumps in my chest when I think about it, darling,” he murmured as he kissed her tenderly again and again. “Tell me what you’re feeling, love.”

“I feel like I have the greatest treasure in the world, being your woman, carrying your children, being the one to hear you cry out the way that you do when it happens for you, when I feel what no other man has ever made me feel at that supreme moment. Oh, dear sweet Remy!”

Laura hugged him tightly, clinging to him as he kissed her face over and over, his face completely flushed, his nostrils flaring.

Finally he got up, retrieved Michael, changed him and got him ready to go home while Laura lay watching them. She was still floating, slightly dazed, her hair in a chestnut mass, her eyes sultry after their coming together as she lay naked on the sofa with the afghan drawn up over her.

Finally Remington went to her after he was mostly pulled together again and helped her to her feet.

“Love, let me help you get dressed. I need to take you home so that I can put you into our own bed and we can finish what we started earlier.”

Laura laid her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Remy, I love you so much,” she sighed. “You intoxicate me so. I feel absolutely high on you.”

“Darling, I feel so much that I fear to speak of it again today unless we are in our bed together,” Remington said softly.

Laura was still very much dazed by their sensual encounter of the afternoon. She put her wrap dress on, leaving off her bra and panties and simply stuffing them into the baby’s bag, put her shoes on her bare feet and combed her hair.

“Darling, I must tell you how incredibly sexy you look in that wrap dress with your lovely tits rollin’ free. We’ll take the back elevator so our passionate state will not be revealed to all.”

Remington wrapped his trench coat around her and walked her out of the office and down to the parking garage. He had Michael on his shoulder, but he had the situation well in hand and

loaded him into his car seat in the Volvo and easily negotiated the evening traffic as they made their way home.

Laura just smiled at him and then giggled softly, remembering the moments they had shared.

“You’re happy, darling?”

“Yes. Because today we experienced something very primal I think. You are truly the alpha male, do you know that?”

“Alpha male?”

“You are like that wild bull that eliminates any interloper who tries to have his mate. Remember Antony Roselli? I never saw you as angry as when we walked into Las Hades together, or that night when I went off with him to walk on the beach. I belonged to you and you were not going to have any other male encroach on your territory. Didn’t you tell me that that was what that fight you had in Glen Cree was all about? When I came back from that walk on the beach with Antony and you and I had sex, it was different. You took me that night. And you took me today. The way we had sex, the way you took me let me know that I was yours and that no other man should even think about my behind.”

“You’ve thought about this a lot, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I have. When Tony saw me pregnant with the twins in London, he knew he was completely beaten. The most powerful stag had won and successfully impregnated the female. The female had picked him to sire her young. And that female was supremely happy to carry for her beautiful stag.”

“Is that why it thrills me to see you carry for me?”

“One of the reasons . . . one so primal and basic that we hardly understand it ourselves. When Wilson came back into our lives today and saw me so happy to be pregnant and nursing your son, you barked at him as any alpha male would and he admitted his weakness and backed away beaten.”

“I wanted to protect you from those memories that haunted you about his leaving. You are the only woman I have ever been in love with. If it means chasing off any bloke that thinks he can get in between us, then that’s what it means.”

“That is why we had to come together today after he left. I knew it would be. I wanted it. And you . . . you were that wonderful wild stag of a man that left me so intoxicated that I could hardly pull myself together afterward. You made me drunk on sex today, and I love you, Remy.”

Laura reached over and squeezed his thigh and left her hand there.

Remington’s nostrils flared and he drew a ragged breath as he caught her hand in his. He knew that every word she had said was true. He had literally seen red when Jeffries walked into their office and his passion for Laura had stirred so powerfully in his belly that he knew that he would have to have her immediately, that he would have to take her and mark her for reasons so basic and primeval that he could not explain them himself. He knew that when he nipped her on her shoulder, it was as basic as that.

“Let’s go home and finish this conversation in our bed, darling.”

When they got home, Esperanza told them that Jonathan had come home from school running a temperature, apparently suffering from the same flu bug that Laura had just recovered from. Laura immediately attended to him. He was very sick and feverish and she was up and down all night with him.

* * * *

The next morning Remington left Laura resting and regaining her strength and came to the office alone. He knew that it was the best thing for her in her present circumstances. In addition, the stress of seeing Wilson Jeffries the previous day had to be taken into account.

“Morning, morning!” he said to Mildred as he came into the office.

“Good morning, boss,” Mildred smiled. “How’s Laura today?”

“She is fine. She is on a three day per week schedule till she gains some weight and strength back. I have to take care of her. And seeing Jeffries yesterday didn’t do her any good either.”

“Mr. Steele, if you will permit me to say this, I don’t see what she ever saw in Wilson Jeffries. He just doesn’t impress me on any level.”

“Well, you are a pretty good judge of character, Mildred. I told Laura that we will take his case, but I gave him a piece of my mind yesterday when he was here.”

“You did?”

“Yes, I told him he was a selfish prick and a callous son of a bitch.”

“Wow! I second that motion. So that is why he was so unnerved when he left here?”

“Probably. At any rate please call him and tell him to get in here. He will need to take a long vacation after he sends his information to the Federal Banking Commission. There is nothing they can do to him once the Feds have the information. I suspect he will have to find another line of work. Our main objective is to keep them from killing him before he turns them in.”

“Will do, chief!”

Remington went into his office and sat down with a cup of tea and reflected on the journey that he and Laura had taken from the time that she first let him know about Wilson Jeffries.

He was glad to finally put the Wilson Jeffries matter to rest at last. Hopefully Laura would be able put her feelings of rejection behind her now. Remington only wanted to relieve her

mind of any nagging anxiety about the matter. He knew that he would have to be very magnanimous now and try to resolve the mess that Wilson had gotten himself into since he had brought the whole matter into the open between them.

Lord! That bloke should be glad that I didn’t deck him, Remington mused. What could Laura have been thinkin’ getting’ involved with the likes of him. I guess it went all the way back to her father . . . how he left at that critical time and then her involvement with men bein’ so unfulfullin’ as far as she was concerned. It’s no wonder that she was so pent up and frustrated and in need when we met. Lord, we did find out how to unlock it all though. Thank God!

Remington’s eyes filled with tears of happiness as he remembered that first time they came together, the way they completed each other sexually in every way, the way it always happened for them every single time, how she moaned and wailed in his arms when he made love to her.

Remington pounded his chest as his emotions flooded at the thought of the woman that was the center of his life.

Mildred called on the office intercom.

“Yes, Mildred.”

“It’s Wilson Jeffries. He is in a panic. They are after him and he doesn’t know where to go.”

“Exactly where is he now?”

“He is downtown on Figueroa Street not far from the Concert Center, Mr. Steele.”

“Tell him to go to the Bonaventure Hotel and wait in the lobby for me there. Sit in a chair behind a newspaper. I will find him.”

“Sure, chief!”

“I’m on my way now. I would like to put him at the loft but I will have to take him there and make certain he is not followed. Have Fred bring the limo around.”

Remington sighed heavily and left the office. He was glad that Laura had not come in today. She did not need this kind of excitement right now, especially after the rough night she had had with Jonathan.

Remington got out at the Bonaventure Hotel and left Fred waiting in the limo for him. When he went inside, it was not difficult to spot Wilson hiding behind a newspaper in a corner.

“Jeffries, come along now and follow me. We are going to get into the limo in front of the hotel. Is anyone in here that was following you?”

“I . . . I just don’t know. I was followed from my condo this morning to the office. I saw the car following me. It is the same one that I have seen on other occasions.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“No.”

“Just act as if this limo were waiting for you and get in the car.” Remington walked casually beside Jeffries with no sense of urgency. “Do you know who it is in the bank that is running the scheme? You need to tell me . . . in case something goes . . . awry.”

“His name is Johnson Harcourt, one of the vice-presidents. He has been in cohoots with another fellow there but I couldn’t find out who that was. I imagine that is the one who has someone following me. My desk had been riffled through when I got to work this morning. They know I have information and they are looking for it, Steele.”

They were at the limo now and Remington motioned for him to get into the car. But at the same moment a man came from out of nowhere and grabbed Jeffries. Another man grabbed Remington and punched him in his ribs and then in his mouth, but Remington punched him hard and threw him against the limo and then gave the man that had Jeffries a left hook and a swift kick to the groin, forcing him to let go of Jeffries.

“Get into the limo, Wilson, now!” Remington shouted as he hustled him into the car, leaving the two assailants dazed in the street.

Fred accelerated the limo and they were on their way away from danger.

“So I gather those were the men following you. Did you recognize either of them?”

“No! I’ve never seen them before.”

“Then they hired someone to see to it that you do not reveal the improprieties that have been going on. You life is in danger till the proper authorities get that material you gathered.”

“Steele, you are all right. I thought I was done for.”

“You might have been, but I have a wife and family that I do not want to have to leave behind. Laura and I have tried to keep out of cases that have an obvious element of physical danger especially since we became parents. There is too much at stake.”

“I’m sorry, Steele. I didn’t want to put you or your family in danger. I . . . I see that family is very important to the two of you and I feel somehow that this mess I find myself in puts that in a certain amount of peril. I’m sorry.”

“So am I, but that cannot be helped at this point in time. Did you send us the material that the Feds would need to move on this scheme? I gather that some sort of insider trading is involved.”

“Yes, that is what has been going on. I put the information in large cardboard box and had UPS pick it up yesterday. It should come to your office tomorrow.”

“I’m taking you to a place we use for a safe house now. Actually Laura used to live there before we were married. You can stay there and we will get the information to the authorities as soon as we get it. The place is stocked with food and we will come by there and discuss matters with you this evening.”

They fell silent as Fred swiftly negotiated the route to the loft and soon Fred dropped them off in front of the loft and sped away. Remington led Wilson up the stairs to the loft and went in with him.

“Well, this is a nice place, Steele. It does remind me of Laura’s taste. I guess you and she have a lot of memories here.”

“We did and we do. Laura’s house where you knew her was destroyed shortly after we got to know each other. Some very nasty fellows didn’t like the investigation we were involved in. This is where Laura moved after that. She loved this place, but we got married and she moved in with me. Then when she was pregnant with the twins, we began to look for something larger. That’s when we bought the place where we are now up in the Hollywood Hills. It’s a large place with plenty of space for our growing family.”

“I’m happy for her . . . and for you, Steele. I thought about what you said to me yesterday. I guess I was quite insensitive then. I was concentrating so much on my own sense of failure with her that it never occurred to me that she might interpret my leaving as a rejection of her.”

“Well, that is how she saw it, Jeffries. There were so many times that Laura and I were . . . together here and yet she was unable to just let herself love me because she feared that it would be a repeat of what had happened with you two. It was a long and difficult road to where we are now.”

“I would love to see your twins.”

Wilson fell silent and Remington let the words go unanswered.

“When we are certain that the men you are dealing with on this matter are in custody, then you can come up to our place. Till then I can’t chance having you and my wife and children in close proximity.”

“I understand. I will make myself comfortable here.”

“Meanwhile I’m going back down to the office. Just in case those fellows noted the license plate on the limo and try to come to my offices I don’t want to be taken by surprise. I will take a taxi and get back with you later.”

Remington called a taxi and then left Jeffries at the loft.

When Remington got back to the office, it was well past noon and Mildred had every thing well in hand there.

“There is a package that will come here via UPS within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours. It will be the evidence that Wilson Jeffries is sending to the Federal Banking and Exchange Commission about the bank fraud going on at his bank. Send it immediately on to the Feds. You can research where exactly it should go. In the meantime be alert. I don’t think that anyone has connected our agency to him, but I’m not sure.”

“Boss, did you have to take a punch for that guy? Your lip is pretty swollen.”

“A little fracas outside of the Bonaventure. . . we left those blokes on the sidewalk and got out of there though. They were hired toughs that were tailing Jeffries.”

Remington dabbed his upper lip gently, realizing that the tough had broken the skin.

“Boss, do you need something for that lip?”

“No, I’ll let Laura take care of me when I get home. Mildred, I want you to go home early today. I don’t want you here if those people trace Jeffries to us. I’ll stay here till the end of the day. I will call Hector to come in just in case we have unwelcome visitors.”

Remington saw Mildred leave and went into his office to await Hector. He called Laura at five o’clock. He didn’t want her to worry but he did want her to know what was going on with the case.

“Hello, love, how are things?”

“I’m fine . . . just missing you today. Really.”

“I know . . . me too. I’m so used to having you nearby . . . within touching distance, darling.” Remington sighed. “How is Jonathan doing?”

“He’s pretty sick, Remington. He hasn’t eaten anything since yesterday and I am quite concerned about him.”

“Well, keep watch on his temp and if we have to take him to the hospital, we will.”

“What’s going on with the case?” Laura sensed the need in his voice and wanted to lift him out of that mood.”

“Well, there does seem to be a serious problem. Wilson says that Harcourt (you may remember him from the case involving the winery) is the engineer of the scheme. Apparently he put a tail on Wilson, trying to find out how much he knew. They tried to grab him by the Bonaventure this morning.”

“Were you there?”

“Er . . . yes, I was there.”

“You were hurt, weren’t you?”

There was no need to try to conceal the facts. Laura had a sixth sense about him and would know.

“Slight bruised lip preventing them from taking Wilson and a blow to the solar plexus, but I’m all right. I put Wilson at the loft for safe keeping and sent Mildred home. I’m going to stick

around here for a couple hours to see if they trace Wilson to us and try to come after the evidence he had. I called Hector to come down here . . . in case I need him. I also had ‘Johnny Todd’ call for additional backup.”

“I should be there with you.”

“No, you should not be here. You’re carrying, love, and remember that we promised ourselves that we would try to avoid situations that could put us in danger . . . because of our children. I will be careful and I will be home as soon as possible. I will call you every hour. If I don’t check in, call Lt. Jarvis from the LAPD and have them come and check the situation.”

“I love you, Remy.”

“I love you too, Laura. Talk with you in an hour.”

Remington hung up and went to make coffee in the service room in the back of the office. After making his coffee, he brought it into his office, took a couple of aspirin for the pain in his ribs, and sat down to think through the case. He remembered Harcourt. He was the heavyset banker who led the chase after Laura in the winery in that first case involving Wilson. Remington perused copies that Mildred had made of the material that Wilson had brought with him the previous day and could easily see what had happened at Southwest California Bank. There were millions of dollars missing. Harcourt apparently had communication with an inside trader who gave him certain information before it became public. He then bought or sold the stocks and took the profit as the difference between what the published figure was and what he gained by means of his inside information. Harcourt was going to jail for a long time and the bank’s reputation was going to be ruined.

Hector came into the office and sat down in the outer area. He knew that they were acting as decoys in the event that someone would come looking for the evidence that Jeffries had brought them.

“Do you think that they will come for the stuff, Mr. Steele?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. That is why I have made sure we have some insurance.”

“Insurance?”

“Hector, there are people who maintain the balance between good and evil in this world and not all of them are in traditional law enforcement. It is the course of wisdom to sometimes let these equalizers do their job. There is a place for them somehow in our current situation.”

The two men sat in the offices of Remington Steele Investigations for the next two hours . . . waiting for the inevitable.

Laura called twice, concerned for Remington, wanting to be with him, and yet realizing that he was right in keeping her away from the threat of violence that was so eminent. She was also supremely aware of their baby that she was carrying and her protective instincts were overriding all else so that she was content to stay out of the fray. She lay in their bed and held her belly protectively as she waited for things to come to a head. The experience of seeing Wilson Jeffries again had been an unexpected confidence builder for her. Finally putting to rest the reason for his leaving her had let her realize that she was truly the woman that Remington needed, that she had everything that he wanted, that she could really believe him when he told her the depths of his feelings for her. She knew that Remington’s taking her in his office the day before . . . after their conversation with Wilson . . . was his very male way of reconfirming that she was his woman, that there was no need for her to think for a moment about any other woman being able to please him. After they had come together the previous day, and had looked into the depths of each others eyes, they both had known at that moment that the Wilson Jeffries episode would never haunt their relationship again.

Remington sat at his desk and let his thoughts turn to Laura. He had wanted to confront Wilson Jeffries from the time that he realized the damage he had done to Laura in leaving her in the way that he did and he was only glad that the hapless fellow had been willing to confess his own shortcomings in his relationship with Laura.

My woman is so passionate. She would have been miserable with Wilson Jeffries. I know that I can take care of that marvelous libido that she has. When she gets caught up like we were yesterday in this office, she is helpless . . . like a kitten. And those moments after we have been together when she is dazed because her body is still quivering and those marvelous spasms just will not stop coming are some of the most beautiful moments we could possibly share. I can only hold her and kiss her over and over and tell her how much I love her at moments like that when her body completely surrenders to me. God! I do feel like a king when she climaxes in my arms, moaning and crying my name like she does. Maybe I really am just that wild stag in rut protecting his female like Laura said.

Remington’s eyes flooded for a moment with tears as he remembered their coming together that morning. She had reached for him and wakened him.

“Remy, please wake up, love. I need you so this morning.”

Laura had snuggled in his arms and kissed him awake in the way that he loved so much.

“I . . . I am at your service, Laura. I love waking up with you like this.”

“I want to tell you something, Remy. I want to tell you how glad that I am married to you and that you are the father of our children. You have made me a complete woman in every way.”

“You believe that finally, darling? No thoughts of ‘why Wilson left’ or other negative things?”

“None at all,” Laura replied. “Not any more. I know that I have what you need and that you have what I need and that is all there is to that, isn’t that the truth?”

“I always knew it, but yesterday when we made love at the office and I saw you in that wonderful dazed state you experience, I knew that you knew it as well . . . beyond a shadow of a doubt.”

“You had to help me put my clothes on. I was so out of it, baby.”

“Yes, darling, you were truly intoxicated. That wrap dress over you in just the altogether was so incredibly sexy.”

Remington kissed her lips over and over and soon they were lost in their early morning mysteries, as they came together in their marriage bed.

The phone rang and it was Laura.

“I miss being with you, Remy.”

“Me too. I will be home as soon as possible. We are still waiting to see if the bad guys make a move. What are you doing, love?”

“I’m giving Michael his evening feeding. You know that he is always happy when he is nursing. He is a beautiful little boy, Remington . . . our first son. Thank you for giving him to me. I don’t know what to do about Jonathan. He is so miserable and he won’t eat or drink anything. I’m afraid that he will get dehydrated.”

“Follow your motherly instincts, darling. You are tops on that score.”

“I’m feeding Michael. I am so glad that he is so healthy.”

“Well, I am beholden to you, darling. You carried him and gave birth to him . . . amazing events that I could only witness in awe of your marvelous womanhood. You are a beautiful fertile

woman with your belly full again for your man. Do you know how gorgeous you are now, with your belly full again and still nursing Michael?”

At that moment he heard a noise in the outer office.

“Laura, I think that our company has arrived. Make that call to Jarvis now.”

He quickly hung up as three rough-looking fellows pushed Hector through the door into his office.

“Okay, buster, we came for the documents. We know you have them.”

“I don’t have the material you are talking about. It is on its way to the Federal authorities as we speak. There is nothing that can be done to stop that. Go and tell Harcourt that he needs to turn himself in tomorrow morning along with the others involved in this scheme. The jig is up.”

Two of the men came behind the desk while the third man held a gun on Hector and they grabbed Remington from his chair and began to pummel him mercilessly in his rib cage and then threw him down on the floor. They were about to kick him and suddenly there were three other men in the office. Two of them grabbed the men off Remington and beat them mercilessly while the third one disarmed the one holding Hector at bay and began to pistol whip him. They forced the three interlopers out of the office at gunpoint.

“Don’t worry about these guys again, Steele.” To Hector one of the men said, “Take care of your boss. He looks like he was roughed up pretty bad.”

Hector came to Remington’s aid. He was barely conscious and in great pain.

“Mr. Steele! Mr. Steele!”

At that moment Lt. Jarvis arrived with several other policemen. They had found the men who had beaten Remington unconscious in the elevator and they took them into custody.

“Get the medics here. Steele is hurt pretty bad,” Jarvis ordered.

“Call . . . call my . . . wife, Hector. Tell her . . .” Then he lapsed into unconsciousness.

Laura met Hector at Cedars-Sinai within the hour.

“He got beat pretty bad, Mrs. Steele, but he will be okay. I take you up to see him in the ER.”

When they got into the ER and Laura saw Remington, she began to cry. His chest and ribs were already black and blue with bruises from the beating he’d experienced.

“It’s all right, darling. It could have been worse. The help arrived . . . a bit late, but it arrived. Keep calm, darling. Remember that you are pregnant and nursing.”

The doctor came into the area and spoke to Laura.

“Your husband was beaten up pretty badly. We just want to run a few tests to make sure that there is not any serious internal injury. If everything is clear, we will let him come home with you tonight.”

* * *

Several hours later, Remington was released to go home and Hector wheeled him from the hospital to the limo and helped him into the car. Laura got in with him and they headed home.

“You scared me, darling. Those were some dangerous men we were dealing with.”

“I know it. Wilson barely escaped with his life. I will have Hector go to the loft and tell him that he can come out now. The powers that be have handled the situation. I just want to go home and get into bed now.”

When they got home, Remington was very fuzzy from pain meds and all but out of it and Hector had to help him to his bed.

“Thank you, Hector. I’ll take care of him.”

Laura was undressing Remington and taking off his shoes and socks. His chest was taped and Laura helped him put on his pajama top and then helped him with his pajama bottoms and covered him up.

Laura went to check on Jonathan and found him still running a temp and tossing and turning in his bed.

“Oh, Jonathan, baby, it will be all aright,” she cooed to him as she wiped him down with a cloth wrung out in alcohol and cold water.

“I’m hungry, Mama,” he whispered.

Laura tried to give him some of the juice that she had next to his bed, but he turned his face away. Finally, instinctively Laura took him up in her arms and gave him her breast. He instantly calmed and began to suckle eagerly. He emptied one breast and then she gave him the other one as she smoothed his hair. She had never felt as close to her adopted child as when she nursed him in her arms that night.

Jonathan fell asleep and Laura laid him back on his pillow and tucked him in. His temp was already dropping to normal.

Laura went in to Remington,

“I had to try to calm Jonathan. He was hungry but he wouldn’t eat or drink anything so I gave him my breast. He took all of my milk and then finally fell asleep. It was pretty amazing.”

“Mother’s milk is quite amazing. Now he is really yours, isn’t he?”

“I guess so. He probably will not even remember it.”

“Perhaps not consciously, but I think that subconsciously he will always know that you are now really his mum.”

“Now I have to take care of you. You had a very rough day. Those toughs did a number on you.”

“I’m just glad that you weren’t there, Laura.”

Laura got into bed with Remington and lay there all night close to him. He tossed and turned and moaned in pain throughout the night and there was nothing that she could do for him but tell him how sorry she was that he was injured.

The next morning Remington had bounced back somewhat but he was still experiencing a great deal of discomfort. Laura was there for him every moment. She brought him tea very early and that seemed to hit the spot.

“You always did know how to make tea for me, love.”

“I just felt for you last night. You were in such pain, baby.”

“My benefactors got there just a few minutes too late to prevent it. But those blokes were ready to completely kick my ribs in when help arrived. Otherwise I would still be in hospital today.”

“When things like this happen, I want to get out of this business, Remy. I could never bear to see you hurt. You know that I can’t stand you being hurt. And, darling, you are getting older. I have to protect what is my own here. You are my man and the father of my children. And I want you so much this morning, Remy. Is it terrible to want you even when you are wracked up like this?”

“No, it isn’t. I want you too, babe. I just think that I wouldn’t do you much good like I am this morning.”

Remington took Laura’s hand and drew it to his excited flesh and Laura knew that he felt just as she did.

Laura kissed Remington gently on his mouth and he kissed her with that all-consuming kiss she knew so well.

“Your mouth is swollen. Is that from earlier yesterday?”

“Umm,” Remington answered.

Laura sat up and looked at his mouth very carefully, tears in her eyes.

“It’s all right, darling. Believe me, that is the least of my problems today.”

“My beautiful stallion!” She touched the swollen place on his mouth and then kissed him gently there.

“Take care of me, babe. Take what you need from me this morning. I’m not worth much but it is what it is.”

“You mean you won’t leave me fluttering and out of my mind?” Laura teased him gently.

The heat in his languid blue eyes told her that his desire was just as strong as hers today.

Remington took Laura’s hand and she climbed up onto him and she straddled him and then stripped off the long cotton nightgown she was wearing.

“Oh dear God, you are so beautiful, woman,” Remington sighed as his eyes feasted on her full nursing breasts and obviously pregnant belly and his hands tenderly caressed her.

They came together and it was what both of them needed so much. There was no need for powerful thrusts on this morning. The joining was so complete that they just moaned in ecstasy together as Laura rotated slowly upon him, giving him the relief that he craved so much and receiving the same herself.

But when the acme came, and those familiar spasms surged through his body, the pain in Remington’s ribs and chest became unbearable, he cried out in anguish, his eyes rolling back into his head.

“Oh, Jesus! Jesus Christ!”

“Remy. . . Remy, I love you . . . so much. I’m so sorry you’re hurting.”

“It’s fine . . . I’ll be all right, love. Just stay with me. I need you to hold me.”

They lay together in peace in their bed and that was all that mattered.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be . . . everything for you this morning.”

“You were everything I needed today . . . everything.”

“Just don’t bring my little girls in here to bounce on Daddy. I’m not up to that today, love.”

Remington drifted off to sleep and Laura got up and attended to their children.

Mid-morning Mildred called to tell her that the news had reported that Harcourt had been found dead, an apparent suicide.

“How is the boss? Hector said that he was beaten pretty bad.”

“He was, but you know how tough he is. I think it will take several days before he is really himself. His chest and ribs were bruised very badly.”

“And Wilson Jeffries? He got off ‘scot free’ again.”

“He did. We just did our job. He is stashed at the loft. I guess that I will go over there and tell him what happened. He should be free to try to pick up the pieces of his life. I’m sure he is finished in banking. I guess he will have to settle for being an accountant again.”

Laura hung up with Mildred and went to tell Remington what had happened.

“Harcourt committed suicide, eh? These guys do the crime but can’t do the time. He was a coward.”

“Do you object to my going over to the loft and tying up the loose ends with Wilson?”

“Do you want to see him?”

“Yes. I should say that I want him to see me . . . happy with my husband, pregnant for him. That’s what I want him to see.”

“Sure. You can go and show off your belly to him, darling. Take the twins with you if you like. He wanted to see them. I feel sorry for him in a way, but ‘to the victor go the spoils’ in this case. At least he’s not a sore loser like Tony was. Call Fred and have him take you over there. Then he can take Jeffries wherever he wants to go. He needs to take a long vacation till the wheels of justice take care of that mess he was embroiled in. Fred can take him to LAX.”

Laura dressed in a pair of black slacks and a sweater that clung to her pregnant belly. She was radiant with her twin four year old daughters in hand. They were the image of Remington with their blue eyes and black hair.

When they came into the bedroom and saw their father in bed, they immediately wanted to get onto the bed and play with him.

“Daddy is hurt, girls. He can’t play with you today. Just give him a kiss and then we will go for a little ride.”

Remington was haggard and unshaven but still breathtakingly handsome to Laura. She smiled as she had to quell her feelings for him at the moment.

She leaned over to kiss him when they were ready to go and he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms.

“You just hurry and bring your lovely arse back to me, darling,” Remington whispered to her.

“You bet.”

* * *

Laura got out of the limo at the loft and took her little girls along with her as she went up to tell Wilson Jeffries the situation.

“Laura!” Wilson was surprised that Laura had come. “And these must be the beautiful little girls Remington told me about.”

“We are deep into family life, Wilson, and it is wonderful.”

“Your Remington Steele is quite a guy, isn’t he? I guess he is everything that I wasn’t.”

“He’s everything that I need, Wilson. He is always there for me, every single time. I thought that my needs were inordinate when we were together. It was hard for me to get over feeling like a slut when we were together because I always wanted more physically from you; but I have gotten over it. I want you to know that. I know that Remington told you, but I want to tell you myself. We are together sexually nearly every day of our lives, Wilson, sometimes several times in the same day. Actually we go at it sometimes for days on end and call it a marathon. That is the truth of our life together. Being pregnant for him is just another wonderful thing that he has given to me . . . being able to nurse his children from my breasts is a gift from him to me. He lets me enjoy every aspect of being a woman to the full.”

“You are blessed, Laura, and I am happy for you. Seeing you with your little girls and you pregnant like this is quite an experience for me.”

“Remington was beaten up pretty badly last night when those thugs Harcourt sent came after him. The authorities came just in time to save him from being killed.”

“I’m sorry, Laura.”

“I . . . I can’t lose him, Wilson. I can’t lose my husband. It frightened me so to see him all black and blue on his chest and ribs. They let him come home from the hospital, but he was moaning in pain all night long and there was nothing I could do to ease that for him.”

“Then they were serious about their threats.”

“Yes, but the information is already on the way to the Federal Banking Commission. And the news this morning is that Harcourt has committed suicide. Remington and I think that you should go directly to the airport and take a long trip somewhere till this whole thing is handled. You decide, but you need to go now. Fred has the limo downstairs and he will take you to LAX.”

“Thank you, Laura, and thank Remington for me. I’ll let you know where I am when I get there. I’m think I’ll probably go to Europe for a few months and then to that small town in Wyoming where I grew up. My family still has a cabin up there near Yellowstone. I can stay there for as long as I need to lie low.”

“Sounds like a good idea. Let’s go now. You go downstairs first and get into the limo. Hector will come for me and the girls later. That way is the safest for the children.”

“Goodbye, Laura. I will always be indebted to you and Remington. Thank you so much.”

They stood for a long moment looking at each other.

“May I kiss you goodbye?”

“Yes, you may.”

“And may I touch your . . . your”

“My belly? Sure you can touch it. It’s really quite amazing.”

She pulled up her sweater and put Wilson’s hands on her belly so that he could feel the fullness there. “You should have seen me when I had these little girls in there. I was so huge that I

could hardly walk.”

“Thank you for . . . for letting me share. I feel kind of like an uncle maybe?”

Wilson kissed her gently on each cheek and let her go.

“Bye, Uncle Wilson. Say ‘goodbye’ to Uncle Wilson, girls.”

The children hugged Wilson before he left the loft.

And Laura picked up the phone to call Remington.

“Wilson just left, Rem. He is headed out of the country for a while. And I am headed home now.”

“I need you, Laura. I feel rotten, but I need you so much at this moment. I want you to make me hurt like you did early this morning. Please bring your lovely arse home to me, darling.”

Laura came home an hour later. She gave her children to Esperanza for the rest of the day and went to attend to her husband with instructions to leave them undisturbed for the evening.

Remington was still in bed. He was unshaven, obviously still uncomfortable from the injuries to his chest.

Laura brought Remington a cup of hot tea when she came into their bedroom.

“Oh, Laura, you are a sight for sore eyes. I’m miserable and I just want you to be with me, love. The bandages are so tight. Can you please loosen them and give me some relief?”

Laura got onto the bed and kissed him tenderly on the cheek. He was obviously in pain. She released the bandages that held his chest tightly. When she saw the black and blue marks from the beating he had experienced, she gasped.

“It’s terrible, Remy, terrible.”

Laura kissed him on the black and blue marks, her eyes full of tears.

“Thank you, darling. Thank you, darling, for being here in spite of my being all wracked up like this. I have had a really rough day.”

“I know. I am going to put some hot compresses on those bruised ribs and I am going to give you some more meds for pain before I tape you up again.”

“You know I hate to take that stuff. I’d rather just suffer through it with you holding my hand.”

“I don’t love to see you suffer, Rem. You moaned in your sleep all last night. I’ll get you water so you can take the meds.”

Laura got him a glass of water and gave him his pain meds. Then she plumped up the pillows around him and straightened and smoothed the sheets before preparing hot compresses for his wounds and getting into bed with him to apply them.

“Thank you, love. That feels so much better.”

Laura snuggled close to him and stroked his forehead and ran her fingers through his dark hair.

“It’s so wonderful to have you in bed with me, darling. I need you near to me. I love you, Laura,” Remington whispered.

“I know. I love you too,” Laura answered him, “more than anything in life.”

“Please, let me suckle, darling. I need your breasts to comfort me.”

Laura opened her nightgown and took him into her bosom and she held him there stroking his hair till the meds took effect and he fell asleep in her arms.

END

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