Bringing Emma Home. Stella MacLean

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СКАЧАТЬ been over this before,” she said, her voice soft with a tinge of hurt.

      Aidan wished he’d said nothing. “I’m sorry. This has been fantastic, and I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s just that I feel like I have you back. The Grace I married and have loved for so long. That’s all I meant. That’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

      “Me, too,” she said, her voice wistful.

      “Then let’s not think about anything other than ourselves for the next two days. If I have my way, we won’t leave this room. We won’t need to.” He leaned up on one elbow and smiled at her. “I don’t ever want to leave this bed, but I am a little hungry. Why don’t I order room service? Another bottle of champagne, even?” He winked at her.

      Grace chuckled. “You think you’ll get me a little tipsy and have your way with me again?”

      “I’ve already had my way with you. Or did I leave such a poor impression that you didn’t notice?” he asked, kissing her again, feeling the heat rise, the tremble of her lips against his.

      “I noticed,” she whispered, her hands moving over his chest, feeding his desire.

      He held her close, his mouth claiming hers, his hands spreading across her back, moving down her body, her answering intake of breath music to his ears. “Yes,” he whispered against her lips. “We will put food on hold for a while longer—”

      The chime of his cell phone startled him. “What was that?”

      “I thought you turned your phone off,” she said leaning across him, her breasts skimming his chest. “I’ll do it for you. No more interruptions.”

      He let her slide across him, enjoying the feel of her body on his. “Whoever is calling can wait.”

      Grace picked up the phone and turned it off. “There. You don’t know how much pleasure I get from turning off your phone. Do you realize that it’s always on? That we’re always at the mercy of that piece of plastic?” she asked, sliding her body down his, making his breath quicken as her fingers trembled over his heated skin.

      “You can turn my phone off anytime, Mrs. Fellowes, if this is what you intend to do while it’s off,” he said, his hands reaching for her shoulders, his body arching toward hers.

      “This and a whole lot more,” she murmured as her gaze met his, the love in her eyes fueling his need for her. He stretched out in the bed, luxuriating in her touch, anticipating every move her body made along his.

      The room phone blared.

      Grace sighed and shifted to lie next to him. “What is going on?”

      “It must be important, or maybe it’s the inn wondering if we need anything. Either way,” he said, reaching for the sleek black phone on the bedside table, “I’ll take care of it and we can get back to...” He looked into her eyes, saw her excitement and almost didn’t pick up the phone. “I’ll get this over as fast as I can.”

      He grabbed the phone.

      “Aidan, it’s Nancy. Sorry to interrupt, but I’ve had an urgent call from a lawyer in Spartanburg. He insists on talking to you now. He’s on the other line to be transferred to you.”

      “Did he say what he wanted?”

      “No. Just that he needed to talk to you as soon as possible. There seems to be some sort of emergency.”

      He exchanged surprised glances with Grace. “But Lucas looks after our clients in Spartanburg. Did you tell him that?”

      “I did, but he said it’s a personal matter, that he needs to speak to you directly.”

      “Okay, put him on,” Aidan said with a sigh, pulling Grace closer as he settled in to hear what the man had to say.

      “Hello, is this Aidan Fellowes?” a deep, gruff voice inquired.

      “It is. What is so urgent that you need to speak to me today? I’ll be back in the office on Monday and we can talk then.”

      “I’m afraid that won’t work. I have to ask you a few questions,” the man said.

      “Who is this?” Aidan said, annoyed at the man’s presumption that he could dictate to him.

      The phone was silent for a few moments. “It’s Larry Knowles. I’m the attorney for Deidre MacPherson.”

      “I’m sorry,” Aidan said, his mind scrambling over the possibilities. Deidre had never attempted to contact him after their long-ago weekend together. “Why are you calling me? I have no connection to that person.”

      “Ms. MacPherson was killed in an automobile accident on Thursday. According to her will, you are sole beneficiary of her estate with the proviso that you become the legal guardian of her daughter, Emma.”

      Aidan swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. “You’ve got the wrong person. This is a mistake.”

      “Not according to what I’m reading here.” He could hear the rustle of pages and a short pause. “She states that you are Emma’s father. She wants you to be her daughter’s guardian and to adopt her as soon as possible. When you do, you will receive the total of her estate worth over five million dollars. Her will is very clear on this point. Did you have no idea that she’d done this?”

      It wasn’t possible. He couldn’t be the father of Deidre’s child. They’d spent a weekend together. Nothing more. He’d tried unsuccessfully for years to get his wife pregnant. What was the likelihood that he’d fathered a child with another woman?

      This story had to be a lie. Obviously, Deidre had decided to make him responsible for a child he’d never met and couldn’t possibly have fathered. He took a deep breath. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I think this conversation has gone far enough,” he said forcefully, his eyes meeting Grace’s anxious expression as she snuggled under his arm, the gentle touch of her hand offering him her support.

      “No. It hasn’t. Not until you agree...” More paper shuffling. “I have here a document, a DNA test that Ms. MacPherson had done on her child and you. You are the father of Emma Leigh MacPherson. We need to talk. When can you be in Spartanburg, Mr. Fellowes?”

      “There has to be a mistake. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Aidan said, the lie slipping so easily off his tongue.

      Aidan’s stomach rose against his chest as his mind raced over the words this man had spoken. Something was wrong. This couldn’t be happening. It had been years ago, another lifetime, and none of it had meant anything to him. Grace knew nothing about that weekend, had never questioned any of his business trips.

      His wife was a Christian who believed that the truth was a guiding principle in life. He believed it, too. He hadn’t wanted to lie to her about that weekend, and so had pleaded a heavy workload in Spartanburg.

      He didn’t want to lie to her now, but he had no choice. If she found out that he’d fathered a child while they were trying to get pregnant, she would be devastated. He had no doubt that she would leave him. He couldn’t let that happen. Not over a mistake he had always regretted.

      It СКАЧАТЬ