The #1 Bestsellers Collection 2011

by Catherine Mann

  “What’s her name?”

  Surprise kicked in. “You don’t know?”

  He didn’t move a muscle. “What’s her name?” he said rawly.

  “Megan.”

  A moment slid by, then, “Megan Valente.”

  Apprehension slithered down Lana’s spine. “Actually, it’s Megan Jensen.”

  “Soon it will be Valente,” he said with the full superiority of a Valente male.

  Her mind reeled. “What do you mean?”

  He ignored the question as he walked over to Megan, crouched down in front of the eleven-month-old and looked at her through the bars.

  Lana could see his reflection in the decorative wall mirror. There was awesome wonder on his handsome face as he took in each and every feature of the beautiful little girl.

  Her heart tilted. For Megan’s sake she wanted Matt to love his daughter. For her own sake she wanted him to deny parentage, leave and never come back.

  “Hello, Megan,” Matt said softly, not touching, not moving, not doing anything except capturing her attention.

  Megan stared back entranced, her brown eyes so like her father’s. She looked so cute, a little dark-haired doll with chubby cheeks and bow-shaped lips that had recently learned to blow a sloppy kiss for her mother.

  Oh God.

  Suddenly Megan transferred her gaze to Lana and within the space of a second her face began to screw up and she let out a wail.

  Lana rushed forward and lifted her out of the playpen. “It’s her bedtime,” she said, soothing her daughter with a “shh” and patting her back until the little girl hiccupped and quieted.

  Matt got to his feet, his expression unreadable. “Put her to bed, then we’ll talk.”

  She hesitated.

  “Put her to bed, Lana.”

  “If you insist.” She hitched Megan higher on her hip. “Take a seat. I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “No. I’m coming with you.”

  She swallowed. That sounded ominous. “Why?”

  “I’m interested in everything my daughter does.”

  “Our daughter.”

  “At least you’re admitting it now.”

  Trying not to show how upset she was with all this, she hurried past him and down the hallway to the smaller bedroom. She had stenciled Megan’s room with a variety of farm animals, adding a musical mobile that played a lullaby above the crib, and giving her daughter plenty of soft toys to cuddle. The room looked lovely.

  Megan had fully settled down by now as Lana changed her diaper. She lay there quietly, her eyes on Matt in the doorway as if she was fascinated by him despite herself.

  Don’t let him get to you, sweetheart, Lana wanted to say. Ignore him and he’ll go away.

  She hoped.

  Then she kissed Megan on the cheek. “Good night, pumpkin,” she murmured, then put her in her crib.

  She was grateful when Matt stepped back to allow her to leave the now-darkened room without having to squeeze past him. “Coffee?” she said, heading for the kitchen, needing something to do.

  “Don’t you have something stronger?”

  She shot him a look over her shoulder. “Sorry. I don’t usually drink.”

  “Yeah, I remember.”

  His sarcasm had her spinning to face him. “That was different. It was Christmas and—”

  “You thought I’d be a good lay.”

  The breath caught in her throat. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “It wasn’t? Then perhaps you thought I’d be a good sperm donor and future moneymaker?”

  “No! I—”

  She’d been so attracted to Matt back then, and working for him the two years previously had made her crazy with want. Yet in spite of them both having a few drinks too many, it hadn’t been cheap.

  Not for her anyway.

  It had been intense and overwhelming, and she hadn’t been able to help herself when she’d literally run into him coming out of the elevator as she went to collect her purse from her desk after the party. He’d held her to stop her from falling and that had been all it needed. She’d lifted her mouth up toward his and he’d groaned and backed her into his office.

  “Yes?” he prompted now, a sudden sensual look in his eyes telling her he remembered.

  Everything.

  “Let’s just forget it,” she muttered. “We both acted out of character that night.”

  “Oh, I’d say you acted right in character. You knew exactly what you were doing.”

  She swiveled away before he could see the hurt in her eyes. If he knew her he’d realize she’d never seduce a man just to father a child. Forcing a man to be a father never worked.

  With shaking hands she put the coffeepot on, then took a ragged breath and turned to face the one person who could unravel her perfectly constructed life once again.

  He stood with his lower back against the sink, his arms crossed against a well-muscled chest. “So, Lana, you lied to me, didn’t you? You told me afterward that you were on contraceptives. You told me there was nothing to worry about.” His eyes seared her. “But there was, wasn’t there?”

  She hesitated, then, “Yes.”

  “Did you think I would tell you to get rid of it?”

  She hesitated again, but only briefly. “The thought did cross my mind.”

  “No bloody way!”

  An odd feeling turned inside her chest at his emphatic reply. She’d thought about that scenario of course, but had come to the conclusion Matt would want his child. Playboy or not, he had strong family ethics, and if he’d known he was about to be a father, nothing would have stopped him from being involved in the baby’s life.

  And now he knew.

  God help her.

  “You should have told me as soon as you realized you were pregnant.”

  Her throat turned dry. “I couldn’t, Matt.”

  “Why?”

  She hadn’t wanted to risk him taking her child away from her. If he’d thought his son or daughter was better off with the Valentes, he would have had no hesitation in instigating a custody battle.

  And he’d have won, too.

  She’d seen it time and again at the boarding school her uncle Dan had paid for her to attend. Some of the rich thought they were above reproach. That money and privilege gave them the right to do what they liked. Usually, they got their way.

  He could still win.

  She swallowed hard. She couldn’t tell him the truth. If he knew her fears … if he knew she’d do anything to keep her daughter … he’d take advantage of her biggest vulnerability.

  Her love for her child.

  “I realized you wouldn’t want to be a father.” That was true. “You’re far too busy being a playboy. The two things don’t mix.”

  “I’m a father now, and you don’t see me running.”

  “We both know you feel obligated and nothing more.”

  “Don’t presume to know what I’m feeling.” A pulse beat in his cheekbone. “Why put my name on the birth certificate if you didn’t want the truth known?”

  That had been her one weakness.

  “I had to,” she admitted. “In case anything ever happened to me. I needed her to know.”

  He gave her a look sharper than a knife. “Were you ever going to tell me, Lana? And what about our daughter? When were you going to tell her?”

  She inclined her head. “When she was older. It would have been up to her to decide whether she wanted to make contact with you.”

  “And in the meantime you would have poisoned her against me. And I would have missed out on her growing up.” His eyes stabbed her with his disgust. “So you’re a cheat and a liar as well as a thief?”

  “No, I …” She shook her head to clear it. “What did you say?”

  Then she got it.

  “Matt, I know you may think my keeping Megan from you is stealing but—”

  “I meant the money you stole from the House of Valente.”

  Her fine brows drew tog
ether. “Money?”

  “Don’t play dumb, lady. Remember that little sum of fifty thousand dollars? I found the paperwork after you left. You covered your tracks well, but not well enough to fool me.”

  She rocked back in shock. “I didn’t steal any money.”

  “You’re lying again.”

  She shook her head. “No, I’m not.”

  “Don’t play games. You’re caught out. There’s nothing you can say to convince me otherwise.”

  A threat of hysteria rose in her throat. “I didn’t steal any money. I wouldn’t. I’m an accountant, for heaven’s sake. I’d lose my job and my livelihood.”

  “Which is part of why I didn’t report the theft. For some reason I felt I owed you that. Lord knows why,” he said with total self-possession. “If my father hadn’t had his heart attack, I might have changed my mind.”

  “You should have reported it. At least then I could have proven you wrong.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  “Look, if you think I stole money, what did I do with it, then?”

  He glanced around the kitchen, with its shiny new appliances. “The deposit for this apartment must have been expensive.”

  She blinked in surprise. He didn’t know that her uncle Dan had bought this apartment for her? How could he not know? She was sure he would have checked out her background and found out all sorts of things about her family.

  Or perhaps that was still in the works.

  If it was, then no doubt Matt would discover how wrong he was about this stolen money.

  If it wasn’t, no way would she tell him anything. Her uncle Dan had been very kind to her and she loved him dearly, and she wouldn’t repay him by having the Valentes delve into his private life. She knew that her uncle was bisexual, with him married to Aimee but having a gay lover, Julien. It wasn’t common knowledge, and she’d only found out about Julien on their last visit to Australia—the same time Dan had discovered she was pregnant.

  She couldn’t—wouldn’t—open Dan’s personal life up for gossip. Not even to prove to Matt that she wasn’t the person he thought she was.

  “What? No answer?” he mocked.

  She lifted her chin. “You’re wrong about me.”

  “I don’t think so.” His eyes hardened further. “Now it’s payback time.”

  “Payback?” The fine hairs on her arms rose in warning.

  “We’re getting married. For a year, so that my daughter will be known as a Valente.”

  Her mind stumbled in shock. She’d never expected him to offer marriage. She didn’t come from a moneyed background, nor was she of good stock. Marriage to Matt Valente just hadn’t been an option.

  And she wouldn’t have pushed for that option even if it had been. She’d sworn never to marry for the sake of a child. She wouldn’t make the same mistake her mother had made, she’d promised herself years ago. Megan would not grow up in a hostile household like Lana had. There was nothing as bad as a husband who felt trapped. It brought out the worst in a man.

  She shuddered. Her own mother had been pregnant with her when she’d married Lana’s father. Valerie Jensen had loved her husband and she’d prayed he would come to love her in return, only he hadn’t. He’d used that love against her every day of their married live.

  Would Matt do the same?

  Somehow Lana managed a strangled, “This is ludicrous. You can acknowledge Megan as your daughter without marrying me.”

  “No. I want this official. I already have the license for this Friday at three o’clock.” She gasped but he ignored it. “Believe me, Lana, if you try to run I’ll find you and I’ll make sure the judge at the custody hearing learns all about how you stole money, about how you always put yourself first, how you were unwilling to give your daughter the best in life, and how you put Megan’s life at risk by running. I’ll get full custody of my daughter. And that’s not a threat, that’s a promise.”

  “You wouldn’t,” she muttered. It was her worst nightmare.

  The line of his mouth flattened. “Try me.”

  “She’s my daughter, Matt. I carried her and I gave birth to her while you were out sleeping around with other women. You have very little right to her.”

  A nerve pulsed near his temple. “I’m her father. But don’t worry. I don’t plan on sleeping with you. We’ll have separate bedrooms.”

  “For all your comings and goings?” She shook her head. “I won’t have you parading your girlfriends in front of Megan.”

  “I’ll take no lovers for the next year. And that’s out of respect for my child, not you.”

  Defeat weighed heavily on her shoulders, but she was determined not to let him see it. She tried to think and could only come up with one thing that might help her.

  “Okay, but I’ll only marry you if I can come back to work for you. I want to find the real thief.” She would prove her innocence without bringing Dan into it.

  “Do you really think that’s going to happen?” he scoffed.

  “I mean it, Matt,” she said, remaining firm but knowing she didn’t have a leg to stand on if he refused her request.

  He shrugged. “As you wish. But just don’t plan on stealing any more money from us.”

  His comment offended her. “If I wanted to do that I’d steal it from my current job, wouldn’t I?”

  He looked surprised. “You work?”

  The question would have amused her at any other time. “I have to earn a living somehow.”

  “Not anymore,” he dismissed arrogantly. “I’ll support you and Megan. There’s no need for you to work at all.”

  He was unbelievable!

  “I like working. It’s part of who I am.” She saw his eyes narrow and realized she was giving away too much about herself. She didn’t want that.

  Nor did she want to be supported by him, she decided, getting back to the point. It would only be for Megan’s sake if she accepted a little help from him.

  And come to think of it, this would actually work out well. The one thing she regretted as a single mum was not having as much time to spend with her daughter as she’d like.

  “I’ll work a couple days with you and the other days I plan on staying home with Megan. Agreed?”

  He paused, then, “Agreed.”

  “But after the year’s up, I get my divorce, right?” She couldn’t imagine being connected to this Valente for longer than that. “Promise me, Matt.”

  “I can guarantee it.”

  Two

  “If any person can show just cause why these two people may not be joined together, let him speak now or forever hold their peace.”

  Lana’s heart fluttered with anxiety in the ensuing silence, wishing that someone … anyone … would put a stop to this lunacy. If only Megan would cry, she might have the confidence to say no to this marriage.

  The registrar continued with the ceremony.

  And suddenly it was too late.

  “You may now kiss each other.”

  Oh Lord.

  As if Matt knew that she couldn’t look at him to save her life right now, he put his hand on her arm and turned her toward him, a solemn look in his eyes.

  He lowered his head and she repressed a shiver; in the mere few days since he’d come back into her life she could not ignore his compelling presence.

  And then his lips touched hers in a precise kiss that said he was cool and in control and in no way did he want a response from her.

  She was glad to oblige.

  It would be her secret that his touch still made her tingle. She’d take that secret to the grave, she knew, as he moved back, his eyes dark and inscrutable.

  The registrar smiled at the small gathering. “I present to you Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Valente.”

  Her heart dipped, but Matt’s family—their only guests—started congratulating them, giving Lana time to compose herself. She’d told them she had no family to invite, except an aunt and uncle who were off on a jaunt to South Africa. Of course,
it was the truth, but she played it low-key. And she hadn’t wanted to invite the few single friends she’d drifted away from since having Megan.

  The Valentes were it.

  Yet she couldn’t complain about their treatment of her. They were just so delighted to have a new addition in Megan, and they even seemed genuinely pleased she was joining them. She’d thought they might think she’d tried to trap Matt, but Cesare and Isabel had been kindness itself.

  She could even set aside her resentment with Cesare for his breach of privacy over the birth certificate, after he’d handed her a gorgeous posy of flowers on arrival today, the bright colors a perfect foil against the soft femininity of her cream suit.

  And Isabel had put one of the flowers from the posy in Megan’s dark hair. Both gestures had been a little “family” touch that had overwhelmed Lana and she’d had to blink rapidly to hold back the tears.

  “We need a photograph of the bride and groom, and then one of the whole family,” Isabel said, pulling Lana from her thoughts.

  “Smile,” Matt murmured, smiling at her. “I want my family to at least think we can be pleasant to each other.”

  “That’ll be a stretch.”

  He blinked at her words, and gave a low chuckle, and she found herself smiling back genuinely for the first time.

  At that moment the camera clicked.

  “Hey, that’ll be a great picture,” Nick said, looking at the screen on the digital camera. “Yes, it is. Now let’s try a few more, and then we’ll get someone to take a picture of us all together.”

  Lana continued to smile, but she was grateful the camera hadn’t clicked a moment ago, or it might have caught her expression reeling from the effects of Matt’s devastating smile.

  Matt Valente could only be described as terminally handsome, with his sophisticated good looks and attitude of self-command making a woman hard-pressed to turn her eyes away.

  And he was now her husband.

  And Megan’s father, she reminded herself, not allowing herself to forget the reason she was here today.

  After the photographs, everyone headed out of the building to go to Cesare and Isabel’s apartment, where a late lunch with the family was to be held in their honor.

  Lana had just climbed into the limousine when there was a flash as someone raced up and snapped a picture of them. Thankfully she’d been blocking a view of Megan at the time.