The Million-Dollar Catch: The Substitute Millionaire. Сьюзен Мэллери

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СКАЧАТЬ found him tempting. She wanted to lean toward him as well, so their mouths were close. She wanted to breathe in the scent of him and touch him and be touched. She wanted him to make the bad parts of their last time together go away so they could have the good parts again and again.

      “Obviously we’ll have to work something out,” she said calmly so he wouldn’t guess what she’d been thinking. “As I’m less than a month along, we have time to deal with all this.”

      She rose and pulled a business card out of her jacket pocket. She’d put it there earlier and had written her home number on the back. Of course she’d hoped he would agree to walk away from the child, but based on how her luck was going lately, it hadn’t seemed likely.

      She held out the card.

      “That’s it?” he asked.

      “What do you mean?”

      “You have nothing else to say? Nothing else you want to talk about?”

      She set her card on the table and shrugged. “There isn’t anything else. I’m pregnant. That’s for me to deal with. When there’s a child, you can get involved. Between now and then, I suppose we’ll talk.”

      “You mean I’ll call and you’ll ignore my messages.”

      She thought about the times he’d phoned her office. “I won’t ignore them this time.”

      “I’m not sure I believe that.”

      She picked up her purse. “I’m not the one who lies.”

      “Are you ever going to let that go?”

      “No.”

      He took a step toward her. “Julie, we’re having a baby together. You have to forgive me sometime.”

      “Actually, I don’t,” she said, then turned on her heel and left.

      Six

      Ryan spent the afternoon in his office, not working.

      Pregnant. He knew he’d been there and he knew what had happened, but it still seemed impossible that a single night could produce a baby.

      Todd walked in and slumped on the leather sofa by the window.

      “So what did she want?” he asked, then shook his head. “No, wait. I want to guess. She’s forgiven all and desperately wants to be with you.”

      “Did she act like either of those was true?”

      Todd shrugged. “She was mad, sure, but was it real or an act? Come on. We’ve seen it all. Some of them are better than others.”

      At one time Ryan would have agreed with his cousin. Recently he’d become convinced there weren’t any honest women left. But he’d been wrong.

      “She’s pregnant.”

      Todd straightened and stared at him. Then he swore and flopped back on the sofa. “You’re totally screwed,” he said glumly. “Doesn’t it just figure. She wins in the end.”

      “No one’s winning,” Ryan said. “We’re dealing. She asked me if I wanted to sign away rights.”

      “And in return she’d ask you for nothing?” Todd shook his head. “I won’t believe it until I see the paperwork myself.”

      “I told her no.”

      “Of course you did.”

      “This isn’t what I would have planned, but now that it’s happened …” He didn’t know what to say. In truth, the thought of a kid of his own was appealing.

      Todd frowned. “Don’t go all father and son on me.”

      “I wouldn’t mind a daughter.”

      Todd groaned.

      Ryan grinned. “Look at the bright side. I read somewhere that a child gets most of its intelligence from the mother. Julie’s bright enough that her kid could grow up to save the world.”

      “You need saving right now. You barely know this woman and now you’re having a baby with her? If she offered you an out, you need to think about taking it.”

      “No.”

      “Look what happened last time.”

      “This is different. I won’t be a stepfather. I’ll be involved from the beginning. We’ll make decisions together.”

      “You sure about that?”

      “Julie has every right to be pissed at me.”

      “I don’t agree but we’ll go with it,” Todd said. “Fine. She’s pissed and are you so sure she’ll get over it? Or play straight with you? Are you even sure the kid is yours?”

      Ryan stared at his cousin. “Have you always been such a cynical bastard?”

      “We both are.”

      “Not anymore.”

      “No way.” Todd rested one ankle on the opposite knee. “You can’t tell me this changes anything. You met her, you liked her, you obviously slept with her, which I’ll now point out you didn’t tell me.”

      “It didn’t seem relevant.”

      “All evidence to the contrary. You have no way of knowing who she was with the night or week before she met you. Okay, sure, assume it’s yours, but protect yourself, Ryan. It makes sense.”

      It did make sense, he thought. The thing was, he knew it wasn’t necessary. Something in his gut told him that Julie was telling the truth.

      “Maybe she planned this,” Todd said. “Maybe she set the whole thing up.”

      “Right. She arranged to reconcile with a grandmother she didn’t know she had, confident Ruth would insist one of the sisters go out on a date with you. Then she waited until the perfect night of her cycle, arranged the date, seduced me, dragged me home and slept with me without knowing if I would use a condom, all the while hoping she would get knocked up.”

      “It could happen,” Todd muttered.

      “You’re making me rethink our partnership.”

      “I’m looking out for you. I know you, Ryan. You have that damned honorable streak. You keep it hidden, but I know it’s there. You lied to her and even though you were justified and angry at the time, you hate that you did it. Now the woman is pregnant and you’re feeling responsible. Don’t be stupid.”

      “I won’t be.”

      “Like I believe that. At least don’t do anything until after the kid is born and you get a DNA test, okay? I can get you the name of a good lawyer.”

      Ryan appreciated СКАЧАТЬ