The CEO's Baby Surprise. Helen Lacey

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      He nodded again. “Once I sat down it hit me.”

      “I had the same reaction when I returned from Thailand last year. It took me three days to recover. The trick is to stay awake until bedtime.”

      There was something husky and incredibly sexy about Mary-Jayne’s voice that reached him deep down. After they’d slept together, he’d pursued her and she’d turned him down flat. Even from across an ocean she’d managed to throw a bucket of cold water on his attempts to ask her out. And get her back in his bed. Because he still wanted her. As foolish as it was, as different and unsuitable for one another as they were—he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

      She knew that. She knew they were from different worlds. She’d accused him of thinking she was an easy mark and that was why he wanted her. But it wasn’t that. He wanted her because she stirred him like no other woman ever had. From her crazy beautiful hair to her curvy body and her sassy mouth, Daniel had never known a woman like her. He might not like her...but he wanted her. And it was as inconvenient as hell.

      “So what do you want, then?”

      Daniel’s back straightened. She didn’t hold back. She clearly didn’t think she had anything to gain by being friendly or even civil. It wasn’t a tactic he was used to. She’d called him a spoiled, pampered and arrogant snob, and although he didn’t agree with that assumption, it was exactly how she treated him.

      “To talk,” he replied. “Seems we’ve got plenty to talk about.”

      “Do you think?” she shot back. “Since you don’t believe that this baby is yours, I can’t see what’s so important that you felt compelled to come back so soon.”

      Daniel took a breath. “I guess I deserve that.”

      “Yeah,” she said and plucked the glasses off her nose. “I guess you do.”

      He managed a tight smile. “I would like to talk with you. Would coffee be too much trouble?”

      She placed the soldering iron on the bench. “I guess not.”

      As she walked past him and through the door to the kitchen it occurred to Daniel that she swayed when she moved. The kitchen seemed small with both of them in it, and he stayed on the outside of the counter.

      “That’s quite a collection your friend has up there,” he remarked and pointed to the cooking pots hanging from an old window shutter frame that was suspended from the ceiling.

      “Audrey likes pans,” she said without looking at him. “I don’t know why.”

      “She doesn’t need a reason,” he said and pulled out a chair. “I collect old books.”

      She glanced up. “Old books?”

      “First editions,” he explained. “Poetry and classic literature.”

      One of her eyebrows rose subtly. “I didn’t peg you as a reader. Except perhaps the Financial Times.”

      Daniel grinned a little. “I didn’t say I read them.”

      “Then why collect them?”

      He half shrugged. “They’re often unique. You know, rare.”

      “Valuable?” she asked, saying the word almost as an insult. “Does everything in your life have a dollar sign attached to it?”

      As digs went between them, it was pretty mild, but it still irked him. “Everything? No.”

      “Good,” she said, and held up a small sugar pot. When he shook his head, she continued speaking. “Because I have no intention of allowing my baby to become caught up in your old family money or your sense of self-entitlement.”

      Daniel stilled. “What does that mean?”

      “It means that people like you have a kind of overconfident belief that money fixes everything.”

      “People like me?” Daniel walked across the small room and moved around the countertop. “Like me?” he asked again, trying to hold on to the annoyance sneaking across his skin. “Like me, how...exactly?”

      She stepped back. “You’re rich and successful. You can snap your fingers and have any number of minions willing to do whatever you need done.”

      He laughed humorlessly. “Really? I must try that next time I want someone to bring me my slippers.”

      Her green eyes glittered brilliantly. “Did you just make a joke? I didn’t realize you had it in you.”

      Daniel’s shoulders twitched. “Perhaps I’m not quite the uptight, overachieving, supercilious snob you think I am.”

      “Oh, I wouldn’t go that far,” she said and pushed the mug along the countertop. “There’s milk in the fridge.”

      “This is fine.” Daniel took the mug and leaned a hip against the counter. “Thank you.”

      “No problem. And you are uptight, Daniel. Everything about you screams order and control.”

      “Because I don’t live in chaos?” he asked, deliberately waving a hand around the untidy room. “That doesn’t necessarily equate to being a control freak.”

      She crossed her arms. “Chaos? So now you think I’m a slob?”

      He drank some coffee and placed the mug on the counter. “What I think is that it’s interesting that you express every opinion you have without considering the consequences.”

      “Oh, have I offended your sensibilities?”

      “Have I offended yours?”

      She shrugged. “I’d have to care what you thought, wouldn’t I?”

      In all his life he’d never met anyone who tried so hard to antagonize him. Or anyone with whom he’d been compelled to do the same. Mary-Jayne got under his skin in ways he could barely rationalize. They were all wrong for one another and they both knew it.

      And now there was a baby coming...

      His baby.

      Daniel glanced at her belly and then met her gaze.

      “Mary-Jayne.” He said her name quietly, and the mood between them changed almost immediately. “Are you...are you sure?”

      She nodded slowly. “Am I sure the baby is yours? Yes, I’m certain.”

      Resistance lingered in his blood. “But we—”

      “I may be a lot of things, Daniel...but I’m not a liar.” She drew in a long breath. “The contraception we used obviously failed. Despite what you think of me, I’ve been single for over twelve months and I haven’t slept with anyone since...except you.”

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