by Susan Meier
Jake laughed, but Seth shot him a withering look.
Jake only smiled, looked at his watch and caught Avery’s elbow. “We have to go.”
She glanced at her phone. “Yes, we do.” She walked over and kissed Seth’s cheek. “It’s a lovely home. I’m sure you will enjoy it immensely.”
When they were gone, Seth suddenly realized he was alone with his mother. Misery nagged at him. He had so many questions.
His mother put her hands on her hips. “What are you doing?”
Hoping she couldn’t read his mind, he said, “Showing off the house I’ve always wanted.”
“Where’s Harper?”
Harper. He’d spent the night fighting thoughts of her. Thoughts of Paris. Thoughts of propositioning her and her not wanting what he wanted. Feelings had bubbled up, spilled over. But in the end, he’d done the best he could for her.
“Right now, I’m guessing she’s enjoying the condo I’m giving her for cost.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she made a sound of disgust. “Really?”
“You don’t like that I’m not charging her interest?”
“I don’t like that she’s not here, helping you plan, talking about decorating this place, talking about a wedding.”
Seth groaned inwardly. Now, he understood. And since Harper had come clean with her mom, he could come clean with his. “Mom, Harper and I were only dating because she had financial problems she didn’t want her parents to know about. She’d sold her condo and didn’t have time to get another. She would have been on the street, if I hadn’t helped her.”
She shook her head. “You like her. Maybe even love her.”
He sniffed. “Where in the hell would you come up with an idea like that?”
She walked up to him and scrutinized his face. “From your eyes.”
He turned away.
“You bought a house with a nursery attached to the master.”
“Some people might look at that and see a reading room.”
She tossed her hands in despair. “Seriously. You love that girl and she loves you. What is wrong with you?”
He spun around to face his mother. “How dare you ask me what’s wrong with me when you know damned well why I think marriage is a sham! You and dad had the worst marriage in the world. He should have left you if he wanted every woman he looked at, or you should have kicked him out and saved your pride. Instead, you lived together like two miserable inmates in a prison...”
She gasped. “Seth!”
“It’s true!”
“Okay. I’m going to let you get away with insulting me and your father since I’ve never talked about any of this with you. But this conversation is once and only this once. The truth is I tried to leave your father twice, but I had this crazy thought in my head that even a bad father was better than no father.”
“I think we all know that’s not true.”
“Do you think he wouldn’t have tormented you from a distance if I’d moved you out of his home? Of course, he would have. But first he would have told you lies about me. Your father was a miserable human being who would have used you, Jake and Sabrina as pawns. I knew it. No matter what I’d said or done, he would have ruined you three. As it was, he got a shot at you but not with the big ammunition he would have had if I’d left him and filed for divorce. He would have never accepted a divorce. A black mark. A failure. Everyone did his bidding or they suffered.”
The air backed up in Seth’s lungs. He’d never considered that his mean, manipulative father wouldn’t have accepted a divorce. But why would he? Why should he? He was vindictive. Cruel. Sometimes, Seth even believed his dad had enjoyed being cruel.
Even if his mom would have left, his dad would have had visitation rights, maybe even filed for custody. He would have tormented them with lies about their mother. He would have tormented them period.
He rubbed his hands down his face.
“Do you understand?”
“Yes.” Because his dad was a miserable human being. A master manipulator. A liar. “You stayed with him to save us from the third level of hell.”
“Essentially, yes. But, Seth, not all marriages are like that. Look at Jake and Avery. They’re happy. Not only that, very few people are like your father. Especially not Harper.”
He sucked in a breath.
“She’d make you so happy.” She shook her head. “No. She’s already made you happy. You’re calmer, content. When I heard you were looking for a new place, maybe even a house in Connecticut, I was sure you were nesting, making a home.”
When Seth said nothing, she walked over to him. “I know you saw a lot of things a little boy shouldn’t see. I’m sorry for that. But if you walk away from Harper because of your father, he wins again. He doesn’t just strip you of your childhood or make your adolescence miserable, he steals your life. Your love. Your first real chance for happiness.”
With that she turned and walked to the elevator, her footsteps echoing around him, reminding him of how empty his life had been until Harper moved in.
He glanced around at the huge room that Harper wanted to see decorated at Christmas, thought of the room in the master suite that could be a nursery and wondered if his subconscious didn’t agree with his mom—
He’d bought this place for the family he so desperately wanted.
* * *
Harper’s cell phone rang far too early. She looked at the time, saw it was close to ten and tossed off the bedcovers. A quick peek in the direction of Crystal’s crib showed she was still sleeping. The baby had fallen asleep after her seven o’clock feeding and so had Harper. She’d tossed and turned the night before, miserable and alone without Seth.
She answered the phone with a groggy “Hello.”
“Hey, it’s me.”
Seth.
Her heart broke all over again. He was probably calling to tell her about arrangements he’d made for his furniture or clothes.
“I’m still at the penthouse. I have a decorator coming around noon, and I wondered—”
“If I’d meet with her?” Her vision clouded with tears. She should say no. It was better not to see someone you wanted but couldn’t have. But she couldn’t take the quick separation. She needed to wean herself away from him. Needed to see him at least one more time. And even if he wasn’t there while she met with the decorator, she’d have to tell him about their meeting. Maybe he’d even come here to talk?
“Sure. I’d be happy to meet with her. You go ahead to work.”
“Actually, I’m going to be here, too.”
Her heart jumped at the chance to see him. “Okay. I can be there at noon.”
“How about eleven thirty?”
“I’ll need to call Mrs. Petrillo...”
“You have plenty of time. I’ll have one of the limos downstairs to meet you at eleven fifteen so you’re here at eleven thirty.”
That surprised her, but given that this was such short notice, it made sense. “Okay.”
She drank her coffee, showered and dressed before Crystal woke.
When her little girl was fed, she walked her to Mrs. Petrillo’s door. The older woman took the baby with an expression of glee and Harper headed downstairs.
She found the limo just as Seth had said and took it to his new building. She walked inside and found the doorman.
“I’m Harper Hargraves.”
He handed her the key card to the elevator. “Mr. McCallan said to give you this.”
She almost winced. There was only one reason he’d give her the elevator key. As much as she liked him and wanted to remain friends, she couldn’t take charge of decorating his entire penthouse. She knew what would happen. At some point, her willpower would disappear, and they’d sleep together...and he’d tire of her.
That was bitter reality.
She took the elevator to the top floor. The doors opened automatically. She stepped out into the echoing great room.
“Seth?”
“Over here.”
He stood by the wall of windows, looking at Manhattan.
“I know you called me here because—”
He turned from the window, caught her gaze. “I love you.”
Her heart stopped. Her breathing stopped. But she was positive that she hadn’t heard correctly, so she said, “What?”
“I love you. I realized it last night. I wanted to stay, but you wouldn’t ask me.”
His words paralyzed her. Not because she didn’t believe him. Because she did. He was too sensitive, too serious to lie about something so important.
Still, he might love her, but he couldn’t make a commitment. And she needed a commitment—something. Even if it was just that they would live together.
“Seth, I get that you have feelings for me. But we discussed this.” She shook her head. “You told me that you’re not the guy who settles down. You’re the guy to experiment with.”
He had the audacity to laugh. “Things change.”
Disbelief made her shake her head again. “Just like that?”
He got down on one knee. Pulled a ring box from his jeans pocket.
Her breath stuttered.
“I want to marry you.”
She stared at the beautiful emerald cut diamond. “Oh, Seth.” She wanted to believe him. But even as her heart leaped for joy, her common sense shuddered with vulnerability. “A person doesn’t change overnight.”
Still on one knee, he laughed again. “My mother tells me I’ve been changing since the day you moved in.”
She could almost believe that because she’d been falling in love with him bit by bit since she first saw him standing in his doorway, yanking a T-shirt over his pecs and abs.
“But the truth is I loved you before Clark. I’ve loved you since I moved in next door to you. I let Clark ask you out because I knew I was damaged goods.”
She kneeled in front of him, pressed her palms to his cheeks. “You’re not damaged goods.”
“I was. For the longest time I was. I thought I couldn’t settle down, thought kids were scary, thought I’d hurt any woman who loved me.” He caught her gaze. “You changed all that.”
She whispered, “I did?”
“You accepted me for who I was, wasn’t afraid to push me to do the duties a good friend should do and kiss like nobody I’ve ever kissed before.”
She laughed. “It has been different.”
“An adventure.” He kissed her, light and brief, a promise of things to come. Then he presented the ring box to her. The gorgeous emerald cut diamond winked at her.
“Want to see where this adventure goes?”
Happy tears pooled in her eyes. She threw her arms around him. “Yes!”
The phone rang. “Good, because that call is probably the doorman telling me the decorator is here.”
He stood up, reached down and helped her to rise. “I love you.”
“I know.” She searched his eyes, finding only truth and sincerity there. “I love you, too.”
“Well, there you go. It certainly took you long enough to say it.”
The house phone rang again. He strode over to answer it. “Hello.” He winked at her during the pause. “Send her up.”
“Ready to make this place a home?”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. “Absolutely.”
He caught her waist, hauled her to him and kissed her deeply. Her chest tightened. Her stomach tingled and everything inside of her suddenly wished they were back at the old condo with no decorator coming and a perfectly good bed, where they could try out this new love that they’d found.
The sound of the elevator door made them draw apart. Seth slid his hand around her waist and greeted the tall, slender woman.
“Mrs. Green?”
She walked over, hand extended. “Yes. It’s nice to meet you. And this must be—”
“My fiancée.”
A huge smile broke out on Harper’s face, not just because he hadn’t hesitated but because she loved him and he was hers.
Forever.
EPILOGUE
THEY MARRIED ALMOST two years later. Their August wedding was filled with lilac and pink, and a beige gown for the red-haired maid of honor, Avery. Crystal, two years old now, served as flower girl alongside Abby, who was nearly three years old—both wore pink.
Sabrina McCallan watched as Harper walked up the long aisle of the cathedral, her exquisite jeweled veil flowing behind her. Her mom’s veil. Because it was so fancy, Harper had chosen a simple satin dress with cap sleeves and a skirt that eased out at the waist, into a long layer of satin that formed a train.
Sabrina’s brother, Seth, watched his bride with love in his eyes. He looked good in his tux, and Sabrina had to admit she knew they were a perfect match. The beautiful waif and her handsome, strong, knight in shining armor.
Harper’s father finished the walk up the aisle with his daughter and as he handed her off to Seth, Sabrina saw the tears in his eyes.
Then Harper and Seth stood before the pastor to say their vows and promise to love each other forever. Crystal fussed at the end of the ceremony and Harper stopped and scooped her into her arms before she and Seth walked down the aisle out of the church.
Jake and Avery, best man and maid of honor, also stopped to get Abby. Avery looked amazing in the pretty pale dress, even with her six-month-pregnant belly.
Before Trent Sigmund, aka Ziggy, her brother’s best friend and Sabrina’s groomsman partner, could turn to walk her out of the church, Sabrina looked down at her own stomach. Six weeks along. That’s what her doctor had said. She blew her breath out in a long, slow stream. In this family of people who loved kids, she was about to bring her own child into the fold.
Except she wasn’t married.
And the baby’s father didn’t know.
And she had no idea where his globe-trotting behind was...
* * *
If you missed the previous story in the Manhattan Babies trilogy, look out for Carrying the Billionaire’s Baby
And if you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Susan Meier
The Spanish Millionaire’s Runaway Bride
The Boss’s Fake Fiancée
A Mistletoe Kiss with the Boss
Wedded for His Royal Duty
All available now!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Secret Millionaire for the Surrogate by Donna Alward.
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Secret Millionaire for the Surrogate
by Donna Alward
CHAPTER ONE
March
IT WAS ODD being the person in front of the camera rather than behind it.
Harper McBride smiled once more as she looked around the room, trying to keep her smile genuine, but not quite liking the feeling of being so conspicuous. She was used to being the wedding photographer, in the background and out of the spotlight. Not tonight. The silky dress clung to her curves...what she had of them. She’d always had more of an athletic-type figure and broad shoulders that made buying tops and dresses slightly problematic. The cut of this dress, though...well, it left her shoulders bare, and a slit up the leg to midthigh left her feeling adventurous but also a little awkward.
But it was Adele’s wedding day, and Harper was the only bridesmaid, and she’d do anything for her best friend.
Anything. As she’d just proved when she gave Adele and Dan their wedding present. If Harper could help her best friend start the family she’d always wanted, she was all in.
She snagged a glass of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter and took a deep drink. She only had to get through maybe another hour of the dance and she could sneak away, back to her little bungalow and into a pair of soft flannel pajamas. That was how she preferred to spend her evenings, if she wasn’t photographing a wedding or special event. Out of the spotlight.
“You disappeared for a while.”
A deep voice sounded by her shoulder and she suppressed a delicious shiver. Drew, the groom’s brother and the best man. Harper and Drew had walked down the aisle together...and back up again when the I dos had been said, her fingers on his sleeve. Not too tightly, but not too loose, just enough to feel the warmth and strength beneath her fingertips. They’d sat next to each other at dinner, where she’d inhaled his cologne and his warm laugh had washed over her, making her smile even when she didn’t quite want to. Drew Brimicombe was sexy and charming—the kind of man she didn’t quite trust.
