“Okay, the food is all sorted out. Sorry, but I am definitely one of those people who gets hangry and I don’t want to give you more of a reason to think I’m an asshole.”
Turning to face him, she noticed he’d taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, revealing his strong forearms and a smart watch. She knew he worked in tech and Billie thought he was pretty much at the top of his game, but honestly that didn’t matter to her. She’d met men who were at the top of the Forbes 400 list but who were morally bankrupt. Though it did ease her mind that he wasn’t after her for her money, that wasn’t really her concern.
What kind of man is he?
Could he be trusted with a child or would he screw it up?
“Great,” she said, walking over to the large swing that faced the willow arbor and sitting down. “I guess there’s nothing left for us to do but to talk.”
“Of course,” he said. He came over to where she sat and hesitated. “May I join you?”
“Yes,” she said.
The swing dipped a bit when he sat on the wooden bench and then he leaned back, stretching his arm along the backrest. His fingers were close to the back of her neck but he didn’t touch her. That didn’t mean that she wasn’t incredibly aware of his hand so close to her.
She remembered the way he’d stroked his finger down the side of her neck that night at the awards banquet. He’d been leaning in to make a joke about one of the people at their table who kept bringing up the fact that he’d purchased a Maserati from the factory.
She turned so that she could avoid his touch, hoping that would give her the focus she needed, but instead she realized it put her face-to-face with the man himself. He was sprawled on the seat, looking completely at ease as he set the swing into motion. He’d taken off his sunglasses; she met his dark chocolate gaze and realized at last why she wanted so desperately to find something wrong with Alejandro.
She liked him.
Or to be more precise, she liked what she saw. He moved like a man who was comfortable in his own skin, and that was appealing to her. But also, he just seemed relaxed. Except for that moment when she’d surprised him at the polo match, he’d been calm and unflappable.
She wondered if that would still be the case if he found out that one night with her had more consequences than either of them could have expected.
* * *
Alec felt like he hadn’t acquitted himself very well with Scarlet. Looking back on the night they’d met, he realized that maybe he’d felt free to be himself because he knew he’d never see her again. There had been no reason to try to impress her or to be anything other than how he really was. For one night it hadn’t seemed to matter that he wasn’t good at relationships or any of those other things. He could just be himself and he had been. Of course, the irony was to be himself, he’d had to pose as his brother.
Now that she was here at his home, he struggled a little bit to relax. Part of it was that she’d gotten even more beautiful since the last time he’d seen her. He wanted her, and each breath he took just reminded him of the scent of her perfume and how it had lingered on his skin after their night together.
“I guess the best thing to do would be to tell you why I was impersonating my brother,” he said, unsure of where to start. But the truth was always a good place. He applied a lot of the same principles he used in his business in his life. Getting all the facts down helped him focus on what steps he needed to take to solve the problem.
“Hadley caught me up on Mauricio being sick and you helping him out. Neither of us could figure out why two grown men wouldn’t just mention the fact that they’d switched places,” she said.
There was an edge to her tone that he couldn’t ignore. She was pissed and he didn’t blame her.
“Honestly, it just seemed easier since it was so last-minute for me to show up and accept his award without alerting the organizers,” he said at last. It had been easier; that way he didn’t have to answer questions about his company or talk about his own work. Being Mo was like wearing a mask. His brother was known for his gregarious personality so it had been a chance for Alec to let his guard down.
In fact, Scarlet might not have noticed him at all if he’d been there as Alec.
“I get that. But why didn’t you say anything to me?” she asked.
He took a deep breath and looked away from her toward the pool, watching the sun dance on the water for a few minutes before he finally answered. “It just never occurred to me after the dinner. I didn’t expect to have that connection with you, and by the time I realized you didn’t know who I really was, it would have been ridiculous to tell you.”
“Why ridiculous?” she asked. “Because I was just a hookup?”
No, but he wasn’t about to tell her the truth. That he’d started to like her and didn’t want her to be disappointed. He hadn’t wanted the night to end and it would have if he’d mentioned he’d been lying about who he was.
“To be honest I wasn’t really thinking that night and it wasn’t until we were in your hotel room... Anyway, I’m sorry. I should have told you as soon as things started to be more than just two people at a banquet table chatting.”
She arched her eyebrow at him and then crossed her arms under her breasts, which looked fuller and larger than he remembered from that night.
“Yes, you should have,” she said. “So... Why didn’t you call me the next day?”
“I was pretty much trying to keep my brother from killing me and then you’d checked out of the hotel and I wasn’t sure how to word an email.”
She didn’t say anything else as she took her sunglasses from the top of her head and put them back on her face. She shifted on the swing and he felt the brush of her hair against his hand. He wished he could go back in time and start the evening they met with the truth. She had him tied in knots. They were strangers. Strangers with anger between them, and he couldn’t blame her for being mad.
He did seem to really suck at personal relationships. Give him a computer keyboard and an empty room and he could wow anyone via videoconference or online chat but this face-to-face interaction he always managed to screw up.
“I have to tell you something,” she said.
“Okay,” he said.
“It’s probably not something you are going to want to hear but you need to,” she said. “What do you know about my family?”
He knew a little bit thanks to online searches. He’d also run an algorithm to compile some of the results of a deeper search but he hadn’t had a chance to read them. And he knew it would be better to hear about her family from her rather than to read about it online.
“Some. I mean I know you’re part of the O’Malley Brewing family. I know that you have banking interests here and in Europe. I think you have a sister—”
“Had. She died eighteen months ago,” she said.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said.
“Thanks,” she said. “Do you know anything about my dad?”
He shrugged. He wasn’t sure what kind of relationship she had with her old man but there was no way Alec was going to say that he seemed to be immature and selfish from the press reports. The man was on his fourth or fifth wife and Alec was pretty sure he’d read that the latest Mrs. O’Malley was eighteen.
“It’s okay. You can say it. He’s got an eye for younger women,” Scarlet said. “My family isn’t like yours, Alejandro. I was raised with nannies and in boarding schools. I’m used to doing everything by myself and being on my own.”
Alec wasn’t sure where she was going with this. “There were times I wished I wasn’t a twin.”
“I can imagine. Your family does seem very comfortable getting into each other’s business.”
“That’s true,” he said.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I brought up family, and there is no easy way to say thi
s...” She paused, and the look on her face made him brace for the worst. “I’m pregnant. And my family isn’t the nurturing kind. I thought the man I’d slept with was Humanitarian of the Year and maybe he’d be a good parent but now I’m not sure.”
He put his foot down, abruptly stopping the motion of the swing, and looked over at her not sure he’d heard her correctly. Pregnant? He wasn’t ready to be a father. He didn’t even know Scarlet. Sure, he wanted to get to know her...but a baby?
His baby?
Someone like his sweet nephew, Benito. A child who could be the best parts of the both of them.
A baby.
A baby!
“Are you sure?” he asked.
“Would I be here if I wasn’t?” she asked.
“No I guess not. I’m... I have never thought of having kids other than in the abstract. In fact, we only slept together that one time—are you sure it’s mine?”
Five
Was she sure it was his?
What the f—
Did he honestly think she’d come to Texas just to trap him? “Honestly, I’ve never been so insulted.”
“Fair enough, but as you said it’s not like we know each other or that we were even in a relationship.”
He sounded so reasonable and she knew he was justified to ask questions. But she’d been dealing with a bunch of crap and she wanted just once to have a man step up and not look for an out. She shook her head.
“I don’t have a DNA test in my bag but I’m happy to take one,” she said. “It’s odd that you think of all the men I know you’d be my first choice to approach with my news if I weren’t absolutely certain.”
He shifted back against the seat of the swing and she noticed how his jaw tightened. She braced herself for an angry outburst. She’d read about his twin and that he was known for his hot temper and inability to control it.
“You’re right. You weren’t even coming to see me, were you?” he asked, standing up and walking a few feet from the swing. He put his hands on his hips and stared across his large backyard; and she noticed his head was bowed slightly.
He was complicated, this twin whom she didn’t know. And she realized she had been a bit touchy about the paternity of the baby, but it was one of her hot buttons. She got up and went over to him, putting her hand on the small of his back.
“A lot of the more salacious reports about me like to paint me as a carbon copy of my father—someone who’s insatiable when it comes to the opposite sex, jumping from bed to bed—but there isn’t much I can do about it. Still, it does bother me,” she said. “To be fair my reaction to the news of this pregnancy was very similar to yours. It was only one time. But as my doctor said, that’s all it takes.”
“Yeah, I know. I never meant to insult you,” Alec said. He turned to face her and one side of his mouth quirked in a tentative smile. “Seems I owe you another apology.”
“Apology accepted,” she said. He wasn’t what she expected. There was a humbleness and sincerity to him that she’d seldom encountered.
“Alec, would you and your guest like something to eat?” his housekeeper asked.
“Are you hungry?” he asked Scarlet in turn.
“I’m not, but if you are, please eat,” she said.
“I always have a snack after a polo match,” he said. “Please bring it out to the dining area, Rosa.”
“Si, Rosa,” he said, then spoke to her in Spanish.
Scarlet had only a rudimentary knowledge of the language, but she understood as he thanked Rosa for the food and told her that she could take the rest of the afternoon off to enjoy with her family.
Rosa smiled at him and put the tray on the table in the dining area under the trees.
“I asked Rosa to bring drinks for us... O’Malley’s Blonde Brew. But now I’m thinking you’d prefer juice or water?”
“Water would be great,” she said.
He gestured for her to go and have a seat at the table while he went to the bar area and opened a small refrigerator that had been built into the river stone.
As she sat down, she realized that this pregnancy situation was more complicated than she’d considered. Obviously, her first priority was to make sure that the child had a parent who loved her and put her first, but now there was more that she hadn’t thought of.
She’d never considered he’d suspect she was lying about him being the father. She supposed his suspicion was fair enough, but it raised more questions. She would have to be careful where she had the test. She wasn’t ready for the public to know about this pregnancy, not until she decided what she was going to do. The tabloids would have a field day with this story.
She didn’t want her child to grow up with the stain of all the mistakes and tragedies that had dogged her life. She wanted a more protected upbringing for the child. The kind of childhood that a place like Cole’s Hill and a family like the Velasquezes could provide.
She wanted the baby to have the kind of family that Alec seemed to have. But she knew firsthand that appearances could be deceiving.
“You look very pensive,” he said.
“Wow. That’s not a word I usually hear applied to me.”
“I expect you’re more used to sexy, glamorous, trendsetting,” he said.
She shrugged. She’d cultivated an image for herself and a lifestyle to fill the emptiness left by the death of her mother and her father’s distance.
“Maybe. What words would describe you, Alec?” she asked. It was time to stop dwelling on what she knew—she wasn’t an ideal candidate to become a mother—and find out if he had the qualities to be a good father.
“I want to say dangerous, sexy—of course—and I’m... That’s where it breaks down. Honestly, I’m reliable. And tenacious—I can’t let things go. Also, according to my brothers, I’m a sore loser.”
She laughed at that. “I am, too. I don’t see the point in pretending I’m okay with losing. If I compete I’m doing it to win.”
He nodded, moving the cloche off the tray and pulling his plate toward him. She noticed that it was nachos. “Do you mind if I eat? Are you sure you don’t want anything?”
“I think you better. Don’t want to see you hangry. I’m okay,” she said, realizing that she sort of liked this man. She wasn’t going to rush to judgment because there was a lot about him she didn’t know. But he’d been honest with her today, and after the big lie that had started their...well, relationship...she needed that.
She sipped her water while they exchanged opinions on books, music, TV and movies. He did everything digital—watched it all on apps.
“But I do have a library in my house,” he added. “As much as I prefer the convenience of digital, I like seeing books on my shelves.”
She did, too. She was surprised at how much they had in common. It gave her hope that he might be the solution she’d been searching for.
“What else do you prefer?”
“Not lying to you,” he said.
“Me, too,” she said. “I’d like to see more of this place.”
“I’m done here,” he said. “Let’s go.”
He offered her his hand, and when she took it, a shiver went up her arm. She wanted to be smart about this thing with Alec. Keep it all about the baby. But a part of her liked him and still wanted him.
* * *
After he ate, Alec took her on a tour of his gardens. His mind was roiling with so many different thoughts it was hard to focus.
He’d never been so careless in his dating life. But to be honest there was something about Scarlet that was different from any other woman. There had been a spark when he’d first been introduced to her at the gala and it hadn’t lessened at all over time.
“Scarlet isn’t a typical Irish name, is it?” he asked as they strolled down a path lined by rosebushes in full bloom.
> “No. Not at all. My mom picked our names. She loved Gone with the Wind. She loved how it was the strength of the women that kept everything going. She wanted my sister and me to have that same strength. So she named Tara after the plantation and me after Scarlett O’Hara. She never really liked Melanie so that wasn’t an option.”
“I love that. I’ve never read Gone with the Wind,” he admitted.
Scarlet shook her head, her long blond hair brushing her shoulders as she smiled over at him. “Me neither. But I have seen the movie numerous times.”
Suddenly, the smile left her face and he realized that there was more to the story. Should he push or just let it be? He wanted to know more but he was actually enjoying not being in constant conflict with her. He didn’t want to have to apologize again.
“My brothers and I are all named after our ancestors,” he said.
“That’s nice,” she said. Then, without missing a beat, she blurted, “What are we going to do about this baby?”
This baby.
Not our baby or her baby. This baby. Was she trying to figure out what kind of man he was before she included him in her life and the baby’s life?
Was he reading too much into her word choice?
“I don’t know. I think if you aren’t opposed we’ll have a DNA test,” he said.
“I’m not opposed. It will make my lawyers happier, as well. I’m not scheduled to start shooting my reality show again until late October,” she said. “I’d like to keep this quiet until then.”
“That suits me. I do have to go to the West Coast in the morning. It’s not something I can put off. Will you be here when I get back? I don’t mind coming to New York to see you. Mauricio and Hadley have a place there that I can use as my base.”
“I think I’ll stay here,” she said. “For now.”
“I’ll leave you the numbers for my sister and Hadley, so you aren’t alone,” he said.
“I have Billie and another friend here with me, and Hadley already gave me her number,” Scarlet said.
One Night, Two Secrets Page 5
