Pregnant with the Tycoon's Heir

by Elizabeth Lennox

  An hour later, Naya stood in her apartment, alone and terrified. She’d heard the baby’s heartbeat but…it was real. The baby was real! It wasn’t just a missed menstrual period now. Hearing that heartbeat had done something to her. Looking around, Naya felt…lost. Lost and confused.

  She needed tell her mother. Perhaps Naya should have asked Jessica to come to the doctor’s visit with her, but their relationship was still tentative.

  Naya dumped all of the informational pamphlets from the doctor’s office onto her coffee table and grabbed her keys. For some reason, it had become imperative that she tell her mother as soon as possible.

  She hurried out of the apartment and down the stairs, diving into her car and driving out of the parking lot as if in a daze. She ran a red light and didn’t even know it, too intent on getting to her mother’s apartment and giving her the news.

  Pierce watched with fury as Naya ran through the light. It was a good thing that no one had started to drive through the intersection because that kind of an accident never ended well.

  What the hell was she doing? Why wasn’t she paying attention? And where was she going in such a rush?

  Damn it, he’d been aching to hold her in his arms again and she was rushing around town, acting as if she didn’t even remember his name. He’d worked twenty hour days trying to resolve the issues so that he could get back to her. Why hadn’t she called him?

  Not that he could have spoken to her for very long, but still, it would have been nice to hear her voice.

  Following her, he caught up with her just moments before she pulled into another apartment complex.

  “What the hell?!” he growled, pulling into an empty space.

  Naya got out of her car and looked up at the building. It was an older complex with more run-down apartments. It was a place where the residents were probably living paycheck to paycheck, most living just above the poverty line.

  Why was she here? Who would she visit in a place like this?

  Pierce watched as Naya took a deep breath, almost as if she were bracing herself for something bad to happen. Was she buying drugs? Was this where her dealer lived?

  No, he didn’t believe that. Naya didn’t do drugs. Hell, while she’d been with him in the Caribbean, she hadn’t even had a glass of wine. He knew that she wasn’t an alcoholic but she drank wine occasionally. That first night they’d been together, she’d had a martini and at least one glass of wine, plus a few sips of the brandy he’d offered to her. So she wasn’t a tee-totaler, but nor was she a heavy drinker. After that first night, she’d barely finished half a glass of wine in his presence.

  So why had she not drunk anything while they’d been in Aruba?

  He hadn’t thought anything of it before, but now, seeing her walk into the run-down apartment and looking so…tense, he couldn’t think of any other reason why she would be here.

  Still he sat there, waiting. If he’d been able to figure out which apartment she’d gone into, he might have banged on the door and demanded an explanation. But he’d been distracted and hadn’t seen which door she’d entered.

  Less than a half hour later, she stepped back out onto the stairway. She was much more relaxed now, a smile on her beautiful features. His whole body tensed and fury ripped through him as he watched that smile. He knew that smile! He’d seen her relaxed, beautiful smile so many times over the past several weeks and seeing it now, when she was coming out of a stranger’s apartment made him livid!

  A fury unlike anything he’d ever experienced hit him now. Naya was having an affair behind his back! It was impossible, and yet, the evidence was there! She was smiling and even tightening the belt on her coat. Damn her! And damn whoever was having sex with his woman!

  His fingers tightened on the steering wheel of his Mercedes and he wanted to do physical harm to whoever had touched Naya!

  Even as he sat there, he watched her drive by, singing to whatever was playing on her stereo system, completely oblivious to his presence.

  Stepping out of his car, he looked up at the door she’d just left. He was going to confront whoever lived there and find out what the hell was going on. If she was having sex with someone else, he would…Pierce didn’t know what he was going to do.

  Banging on the door, he was ready to tear someone’s head off. So it was startling when an elderly woman opened the door with a welcoming smile. She was about Naya’s height, but with grey hair instead of Naya’s darker tresses. She looked to be in her late fifties or early sixties. Perhaps older. Her lips were wrinkled and her forehead creased. But her brown eyes were wide with curiosity.

  “You must be the man,” the woman said.

  He wasn’t sure what she meant and looked behind her, searching for the man who had put the smile on Naya’s face. “Is he here?”

  The woman pulled back, silently inviting Pierce inside. “Is who here?

  “The man!” he snapped as he stepped through the door, looking around.

  The woman closed the door and folded her hands in front of her, seeming to be at peace. “I’m the only person here,” she stated. “And I believe you are the man who has been seeing my Naya. Am I correct?” she asked.

  Pierce’s eyes sharpened on the woman. “Your Naya?” he asked, furious because he couldn’t hit a woman. A man, yeah, he had no compunction about punching out another man. But an elderly woman? No way.

  “My daughter is in love with you,” she said and walked over to the kitchen cabinet, taking down two glasses. She reached into the fridge and pulled out a pitcher of tea, pouring some into both glasses. “She’s a bit confused and hurt though.”

  Daughter? Was this…? His mind was still trying to figure out what was going on, so it took him several moments to fully grasp what this woman was saying to him. Pierce took the glass, even though he didn’t want any tea. He wanted answers. “Your daughter is Naya?”

  “Yes,” she replied, laughing softly and gestured to a sofa that should have been tossed into a dumpster twenty years ago. He sat, but only because he wanted more information. “She is my daughter, but I’ll be the first to admit that I wasn’t a good mother to Naya.” She looked at him calmly. “Which is probably why you are so frustrated at the moment.”

  He blinked, holding the glass of tea between his hands. “Your relationship with Naya is why I’m furious?” he asked, adding in his own emotion instead of the more mild “frustrated” term she’d used. He wasn’t frustrated. He was livid.

  She smiled gently at him. “I wasn’t a good mother,” she told him. Sighing, she shook her head. “In fact, I was probably the worst kind of mother one could have.” She lifted her hand towards Pierce when he started to stand up. “No, I never hit her.” She shook her head. “Perhaps I wasn’t the worst. But I was bad.” She looked at him gently. “You see, I left Naya. Her father left us first and I was…overwhelmed. Which is no excuse. But I drank. Heavily back then. And I convinced myself that I couldn’t handle being a mother. So I…” she sniffed, blinking back tears. “I just left her. At the park.”

  Yebena mat! Was he understanding correctly? “You abandoned your child?” he growled, his fists clenching and unclenching.

  She nodded, and a tear slipped down her wrinkled cheek. “Yes. I abandoned my daughter.”

  Some of Naya’s actions made sense now. Why she kept leaving him in the morning. Why she didn’t initiate communication with him. Naya had been wounded by this woman’s abandonment. Well, and her father’s! Chert voz’mi! The two people in the world she should have been able to count on had left her.

  “I have to go,” he snapped. Pierce stood up, dumping the tea down the sink, but he carefully placed the glass on the countertop. “How old was she?” he asked, needing to know, but feeling sick at the idea.

  “Naya was five the first time,” the woman admitted, shame causing her to turn her face away slightly. “Because of me, Naya doesn’t trust easily. But…” she paused, crossing her arms over her stomach and she forced her eyes to look u
p at him. “She loves you. I don’t think she’s ever loved anyone and it’s going to be hard for her to believe that you won’t abandon her like I did.”

  Pierce muttered a curse. Then said it in four other languages. “You’re right. You weren’t a good mother.”

  And with that, he walked out of that apartment. Stepping into the stairway, he breathed in deep gulps of air, trying to cleanse himself from the woman. If he never saw her again, he’d count himself a lucky man.

  Then he realized something else. He’d taken Naya to Aruba, made love to her all weekend, then…he’d flown off to another country. He hadn’t abandoned her, but Pierce was pretty sure that it felt that way to her. No wonder she was so cautious! No wonder she didn’t trust easily! She didn’t believe that anyone could love her enough to stay with her!

  Damn, he wanted to punch someone! Or even better, he wanted to find Naya and pull her into his arms, tell her that he wanted to be with her forever!

  He took the stairs two at a time, heading to his car but as soon as that thought hit him, he paused and looked up at the sky. “Forever?”

  Yes. After being with her in Aruba, then having to live without her for the past week, he knew that he wanted her in his life forever.

  But now he’d have to convince her of that. And with her mother and father’s abandonment, she wouldn’t be easy to convince.

  Chapter 18

  Pierce stood outside of Naya’s apartment, wondering what to do. For his entire adult life, he’d always known what to do. Part of his success was his ability to look at the facts, make an assessment and formulate a plan of action. But with Naya, she was different. He didn’t know the facts. He had no clue how to reach her. She was like a beautiful hummingbird. She’d flit towards him, take the nectar and move on so fast, one wasn’t sure that it had actually happened. Surely a beauty like that wasn’t real.

  But Naya was real. Her beauty and the sunshine she brought into his life was real. And her pain was real. Somehow, he had to get through to her, convince her that he wouldn’t leave her.

  That she didn’t need to leave him first to protect herself. His arm reached out, but he didn’t knock. Instead, he braced his hands on the frame of her door, trying to figure out what to say, what words he could use to convince her.

  His hand moved from the doorframe to his pocket and he pulled the diamond ring out. It sparkled even in the dim light from the moon and the streetlights, but it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t sure anything would be enough. After what Naya had experienced at the hands of her mother and father, maybe nothing would be enough.

  But he had to try. The past week without her had shown him that he didn’t want to live without her. Oh, he could do it. He’d be absolutely miserable, but he would survive.

  Straightening up, he slid his hand back into his pocket and dropped the ring there. He’d talk to her. He’d get to know her better and they’d date, he would show her over time that he wasn’t going anywhere. Yeah, that would work, he thought. Pierce would give her time and show her through his actions how important she was to his life. And how he wanted to be important to her as well.

  With that decision made, he lifted his hand and rapped on the door. Almost immediately, it was opened and there she was. Damn, she looked gorgeous!

  “Pierce!” she gasped, her hand moving to her heart and, for the first time, his eyes stayed on her pretty eyes and didn’t skim down over her lush figure. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

  “I’ve been pushing my staff and myself hard over the past week to fix the issues that came up last weekend. I needed to see you,” he told her honestly. “Everyone on my staff is about to kill me, either through exhaustion or because I’ve snapped their heads off one too many times.”

  Naya stared at him for a long moment and he could see her sifting through his words in her head. But he wasn’t prepared for the one word question. “Why?”

  “Because you weren’t there with me, Naya,” he told her with heartfelt honesty.

  She pulled back slightly and he could see her eyes shutter. She wanted to believe him, but wasn’t going to let herself hope.

  “May I come in?” he asked.

  She hesitated again, but then stepped back. “Of course,” she told him and opened the door wider to let him into her apartment.

  He turned and looked at her. “I know that I didn’t call you, Naya. But it wasn’t because I wasn’t thinking about you.”

  Still, she held back. “That’s very nice of you.”

  “I got back several hours ago, actually.”

  Mentally, she did the math and he wasn’t winning the discussion. “Was your flight okay?” she asked.

  “It was miserable.” He followed her when she moved into her small kitchen. “I contacted a real estate person a couple of weeks ago,” he announced. “I wanted to find a place for you.”

  She turned, still looking confused. “I have an apartment.”

  HE smiled and leaned against the counter. “I know. Bear with me, okay? I need to explain something to you and I’m not exactly sure how to say this, okay?”

  “Okay.” She reached into the fridge and grabbed a carton of milk, then looked down at it as if it were a foreign object and she had no clue how it had gotten into her hands. “Um…right!” and she turned around, putting the milk back into the fridge. When she turned back to face him, Pierce suspected that her cheeks were a bit pink, but he wasn’t sure. And he was concentrating on coming up with the right words.

  “This past week…and the weekend before when we were together in Aruba, I figured out something. I realized that I don’t…” his eyes moved over the coffee table and something caught his eye. “Are you…sick?” he asked, seeing the prescription bottle on the table. He walked over to it and felt her move behind him. He could feel her tension. “What’s wrong, Naya?” he demanded. He didn’t recognize the name of the medicine, but that wasn’t anything new. He was rarely sick so he didn’t have a large knowledge of medicines.

  “Nothing is wrong, Pierce,” she told him, clasping her hands together.

  “You’re sick. What’s wrong?”

  She laughed, but it didn’t sound right and his tension increased. “Nothing is wrong. I promise. I’m not sick.”

  “What’s this for then?”

  She sighed and walked away, then turned around to face him. “I’m not sick. I promise. And nothing is wrong. I’m…” she sighed, rubbing her forehead. “I’m pregnant, Pierce.”

  He stood there staring at her, trying to absorb the words. “Pregnant.” He tossed it around in his mind. “Pregnant?”

  “Yes. About ten weeks pregnant.”

  Mentally, he counted backwards, his mind going through the dates. “Ten weeks was the night we were first…!”

  “Yes. I’m pregnant with our baby,” she confirmed.

  A surge of happiness struck him and he wanted to pull her into his arms. But something was still wrong. She didn’t look happy. “You weren’t going to…?” he asked, his voice going a bit hoarse at the idea of her aborting their child.

  Immediately, her eyes widened when she realized what he was asking. “No!” she answered. “No way! No! I’m not going to abort this child.” Her shoulders stiffened and she glared up at him. “I’m keeping the baby, Pierce. I know that you’re a very busy man and…” she swallowed. “We had a good time,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’m not asking you for anything. And I’ll even sign papers dissolving you of your responsibility for this child. But I’m not getting rid of it. You can go on with your life. I don’t need anything from you.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Is this why you’ve become so distant over the past few weeks?”

  Her mouth fell open. “Me? I’ve been distant? You’re the one who had to fly half way around the world!”

  He took a step closer, not sure if he should be excited or furious. “I called you! You didn’t have time to talk, Naya.”’

  She stared up at him for a long moment,
then shook her head slightly. “I was working! You called me in the middle of a meeting. I would think that you’d appreciate my work ethic since I work for you!”

  “Yes, you work for me. So it would seem as if you could take the time to get out of your meeting and converse with me! You were warm and wonderful in Aruba. But then I left and everything changed. You wouldn’t give me the time of day.”

  She gasped and moved closer, poking him in the chest. “I would have given you the time of day if you’d called me!”

  “I called!”

  “While I was working!”

  “Phones work both ways, Naya.”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but there was no response. She just continued to glare at him and he shook his head. “No way, honey. I was working too.” He moved closer, his mind starting to fully understand what she might have gone through…and how that would impact their relationship. “And you could have called me, but you’re so afraid of people leaving you that you won’t take a chance. You’ve been abandoned by the people who should have been there for you, now you assume everyone is going to leave you.”

  She bristled with anger now. “How do you know about my past?” she snapped.

  “I spoke to your mother. Not a stellar example of parental love, but at least she explained why you are always so quick to get out of my bed and move on with your life.”

  He watched the outrage morph onto her lovely features and wanted to laugh. Or pull her into his arms. Either would work at the moment, he thought. “You had no right to snoop into my life, Pierce!”