The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda / High-Society Seduction: The Tycoon's Paternity Agenda / High-Society Seduction. Michelle Celmer

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СКАЧАТЬ … heaven help her, she might actually self-combust. It was as unexpected as it was mortifying.

      The way Adam had looked at her, the fire in his eyes … she couldn’t even recall the last time a man had looked at her that way. Hell, she wasn’t sure if anyone ever had.

      She pinched her eyes shut and squeezed her legs together, willing it away, but that only made it worse. An adolescent crush was one thing, but this? It couldn’t be more wrong. Or inappropriate. He was her brother-in-law. Her sister’s husband. The father of the child she would eventually be carrying.

      Not to mention that she didn’t even like him. He was overbearing and arrogant, and generally not a very nice person.

      At least she knew that he wasn’t lying about seeing her being an accident. Her bedroom door didn’t latch correctly and her cat, Sylvester, was always letting himself in. If she had known Adam was going to be wandering around upstairs she would have been more careful. And maybe making that crack about Adam only having to ask wasn’t her smartest move, but she refused to let him know how rattled she was.

      Not that she was ashamed of the way she looked. As bodies went, hers wasn’t half-bad. She just never planned on Adam ever seeing it. Not outside of the delivery room anyway.

      She just hoped he never took her up on her offer.

      Of course he wouldn’t! He was no more interested in her than she was in him. Not only were they ex in-laws, but they were polar opposites. They didn’t share a single thing in common as far as she could tell. Except maybe sexual attraction. But that was fleeting, and superficial. Like her on-again off-again relationship with Willy Jenkins used to be. He was a pretty good kisser, and fun under the covers, but he wasn’t known for his stimulating conversation. As her best friend Missy would say, he was nice to visit, but she wouldn’t want to live there.

      Not that Katy would be “visiting” Adam. She would have to be pretty hard up to sleep with a man she had no affection for. She couldn’t imagine ever being that desperate.

      She heard a vehicle out front and peered through the curtains to see her parents’ truck pull up in front of the barn. Well, shoot! Now she had to go out there and act like nothing happened. Which technically it hadn’t.

      She yanked on clean jeans and a T-shirt and pulled her damp hair back in a ponytail. As she tugged on her cowboy boots she heard the side kitchen door slam, then the muffled sound of voices from the great room below. She had talked Adam into this visit, so it didn’t seem fair making him face her parents alone. And at the same time, she was dreading this. She didn’t like to play the role of the mediator. That had always been her mother’s thing.

      In the week since she had talked Adam into letting her be the surrogate, Katy had been working on convincing her parents that she was doing the right thing, and that they were going to have to trust Adam. She just hoped that seeing him face-to-face didn’t bring back a flood of the old resentment.

      At first, when they learned that Becca was engaged, besides being stunned that she’d never mentioned a steady man in her life, her parents had been truly excited about having a son-in-law. But from the minute they met Adam it was obvious he came from a different world. And as hard as they tried to be accepting, to welcome him to the family, it seemed he always held something back. Her parents interpreted it as Adam thinking he was better than them, even though he had always been gracious enough not to condescend, or treat them with anything but respect.

      At first Katy had given him the benefit of the doubt. She wanted to believe that he was as amazing as her sister described. But when he and Becca visited less and less, and Katy realized just how hard Becca had to work to keep him happy, she’d had to face the truth. Adam was an arrogant, controlling and critical husband.

      But Katy wasn’t doing this for him. She was doing it for Becca, and her parents, and most of all the baby. Which made what just happened between them seem wholly insignificant. It was a fluke, that’s all. One that would never happen again.

      She headed down the stairs to the great room. Her parents sat stiffly on the sofa and Adam looked just as uncomfortable on the love seat opposite them. When she entered the room everyone turned, looking relieved to see her.

      “Sorry to keep you waiting,” she told Adam, and his expression gave away no hint of their earlier … confrontation. Although he might have snuck a quick look at her breasts.

      “Your parents and I have had a chance to get reacquainted,” he said, and from the vibe in the room, Katy could guess it hadn’t exactly gone well.

      So as not to be antagonistic and give anyone the impression she was taking sides, she sat by neither her parents nor Adam, but instead on the hearth between them.

      The contrast was staggering. Adam looked cool and confident in his suit, like he was ready to negotiate a milliondollar deal, while her parents looked like … well, like they always had. Her father had gotten a little paunchy over the past few years, and his salt-and-pepper hair was thinning at his temples, but he still looked pretty good for a man of sixty-two. And as far as Katy was concerned, her mother, fifty-nine on her next birthday, was as beautiful as she’d been at sixteen. She was still tall, slender and graceful with the face of an angel. She wore her gray-streaked, pale blond hair in loose waves that hung to just above her waist, or at times pulled back in a braid.

      She was a perpetually happy person, always preferring to see the glass not only as half full, but the ideal temperature, as well. But now creases of concern bracketed her eyes.

      “I was just telling Adam how surprised we were when we heard of his plans,” her father said, and his tone clearly said he didn’t like it much.

      Katy’s mom rested a hand on his knee then told Adam, “But we’re hoping you can convince us that you’ve thought this through, and taken our family into consideration.”

      Katy bit her lip, praying that Adam’s first reaction wasn’t to get defensive. What had he told Katy that day in the coffee shop? That he wasn’t seeking anyone’s approval or permission? But he had to expect this, didn’t he? He had to know her parents would be wary. That was the whole point of his visit. To set their minds at ease.

      Or maybe he didn’t see it that way. Maybe he truly didn’t give a damn what they thought.

      “As I told Katy, I have no intention of keeping the child from you,” he assured them, in a tone that showed no hint of impatience, and Katy went limp with relief. “You’ll be his or her only grandparents. In fact, I think that spending time on the ranch will be an enriching experience.”

      “I’m also not sure I like the idea of Katy being your surrogate,” her father added, and suddenly everyone looked at her.

      “I have my concerns as well, Mr. Huntley. But she wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

      “I think we all know how stubborn she can be,” her father said, talking about her as though she wasn’t sitting right there. “I’d like to see her concentrate on finding a husband, and having kids of her own.”

      She was so sick of that tired old argument. Just because practically every other woman in her family married young and immediately started squeezing out babies, that didn’t mean it was right for her.

      “I’m not ready for a husband or kids,” she told her father. Or more accurately, they weren’t ready for her. Every time she thought she’d found Mr. Right, he turned out to be Mr. Right Now, then inevitably became Mr. Last СКАЧАТЬ