More Than He Expected. Andrea Laurence

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СКАЧАТЬ was certainly unexpected. The pendulum of his emotions had swung wildly from one side to the other and back over the last few minutes. First, he was a father. Then he wasn’t. Now she wasn’t even a mother. He’d never anticipated that procreation could be this complicated. “Why would you agree to do something like that?”

      Gwen shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I? It wasn’t like I was in a serious relationship or had other plans that would interfere. I spend a lot of my time at the hospital, and that’s where I met them. Susan was a patient on my floor for several weeks after being in a severe car wreck in the Lincoln Tunnel. She was seven months pregnant at the time. Not only did she lose the baby, but she isn’t able to carry another child. They were such a sweet couple, going through so much pain. How could I turn down the opportunity to help them?”

      “You’re being compensated, right?”

      Gwen frowned, her nose wrinkling delicately. “Of course not. You sound like my mother. They’re paying my medical expenses, but that’s it. I didn’t do this for the money, and frankly, they aren’t in a position to pay even if it wasn’t illegal. This isn’t some fancy workaround for a rich, thin society woman who doesn’t want to ruin her figure with pregnancy.”

      Alex wasn’t quite sure what to say. She was a damn saint and probably the only woman on his roster who could come close to qualifying. He wasn’t used to being around women like that. “Are you getting anything out of this other than a warm, fuzzy feeling?”

      “Some distance,” she said. “When I volunteered to do this, I decided I would use the time to take a break from relationships.”

      “So, what, you’ve sworn off men?”

      Gwen smiled. “Yes, for now.”

      He wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. He lived in a world where people of means indulged in whatever, whenever they wanted. Alex let his gaze drop to Gwen’s hand as it rested on the soft swell of her stomach. Around her wrist was a silver charm bracelet with a heart-shaped lock charm. The one he’d bought her at Tiffany during their previous time together. “You’re wearing your bracelet,” he said.

      Gwen smiled and held out her wrist to look at it. “I’ve worn it every day since you bought it for me.”

      Alex shook his head. He’d practically had to force the gift on Gwen. She’d finally chosen the bracelet under the threat of not leaving the store until she picked something. She’d refused diamond earrings. The roses and wine had been a complete failure. But at least she liked the bracelet.

      “It’s my chastity bracelet.”

      “What?” Alex nearly choked. “Like a chastity belt?”

      “Slightly less medieval, but the same basic idea. I wear it as a reminder.”

      “You’re using my gift as a reminder to avoid men? The irony is rich.”

      Gwen shrugged. “It was perfect timing. You insisted I buy something. I saw the lock charm in the case, and I knew it was the perfect symbol of the new journey I was starting on. A subtle reminder to stay on track, as if being pregnant wouldn’t do that for me already. I mean, who’d want me like this? It was the perfect time to quit dating.”

      Alex was about to tell her that he, for one, would still want her, when Adrienne’s voice in the kitchen caught their attention. “Gwen?” she called.

      “You’d better go,” Gwen said, standing quickly. She picked up the roses and wine from the dresser and thrust them back at him. “Take these with you. I don’t want to explain where they came from.”

      Alex wasn’t quite ready to leave, but he wasn’t ready to explain to Adrienne why he was alone with Gwen, either. Jumping up, he stuck his head out the doorway toward the kitchen, then dashed off in the other direction. He rounded the corner into the living room unseen and opted to head back to his room to finish unpacking. Or at least, to decompress. He’d had too big a shock in the last few minutes to go out onto the patio and be the life of the party just yet.

      Talk about a game changer! For the most part, Alex thought he had women figured out. Between his mother and the list of ladies who had drifted in and out over his lifetime, he had a pretty solid understanding of the female of the species.

      The exception was Gwen.

      Somehow she took all his expectations and tossed them out the window. She was a genuinely good person. The first moment he’d laid eyes on her, she had been running herself ragged to make Will and Adrienne’s wedding special. Later, he’d discovered she spent her working hours taking care of the sick, and from the looks of things now, she sacrificed her precious personal time for others, too. He couldn’t imagine even one of the women he’d dated over the last ten years agreeing to anything like that. The majority of them were looking for some hedonistic pleasure or a sugar daddy. Either way, it was all about them. Selfish and spoiled, every last one of them. It was no wonder he never wanted to keep them around for long.

      But Gwen … having a stranger’s baby and asking for nothing in return? To subject her body to the ravages of childbearing without the benefit of having her own child when she was done? That wasn’t exactly like loaning your neighbor a cup of sugar or donating an old coat to the homeless shelter. She was taking charity to a whole new level.

      Alex slipped into his bedroom and shut the door behind him to block out the rest of the world. It wasn’t until his weight sank down into the soft mattress that the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins finally seemed to subside.

      Gwen was a remarkable woman. Smart, funny, caring, but saint or no, Alex had to admit he was still relieved to find that wasn’t his child. There were worse women in Manhattan to be bound to through the bonds of shared custody, but that had been close. Too close.

      Since he’d started his heated pursuit of women, Alex had been nearly religious about using protection. It was the only way to shield himself. Not only from disease but from the women out there who would like nothing better than to have his child and a permanent connection to his bank accounts. The Stanton Steel company had made a fortune during the race to build railroads across the United States. The generations since then had done well investing it. And Alex was the sole heir to it all.

      By necessity, his record with women was flawless. To the dismay of women everywhere, no one had conceived Alex Stanton’s child. And for that, he was eternally grateful. He wasn’t interested in the emotional, physical and financial entanglements. If his parents had taught him nothing else, they had shown him that marriage for the sake of a child made everyone miserable in the end. He had no intention of becoming a workaholic who bought his son’s affections, like his father, or an emotionally abusive recluse like his mother, who blamed her son for her own wretched existence.

      If he died single and childless, Alex would consider that a victory. He’d rather donate his fortune to charity just to hear the collective sound of the hearts of every ambitious socialite in Manhattan breaking.

      And yet … for half a heartbeat when he’d thought Gwen was having his baby … there’d been this feeling he hadn’t anticipated. Sure, he was angry with her for keeping it from him and sort of freaked out in general, but he’d also had a touch of excitement. He’d told himself after their weeks together that his thoughts of Gwen would fade. Continuing in any kind of real relationship with her would just lead to expectations he couldn’t fulfill.

      But in that moment, fate had very nearly made the decision for him. If that СКАЧАТЬ