by Heidi Betts
Nothing could dampen his spirits tonight. Nothing.
He was going to be a daddy—on Father’s Day, no less. He couldn’t wait.
Eight more months seemed like an eternity, but he was looking forward to each and every one of them. Spent in Shannon’s company, of course, knowing they’d made a baby together.
With the help of medical science, maybe, but they’d still created a life.
Whistling the tune of the only lullaby he knew, he made his way into the kitchen and opened the fridge, looking for something quick and easy to fix for dinner. Normally, he would have dined out or had his secretary arrange for something to be brought in.
But Margaret had long since gone home, and he didn’t much feel like making pleasantries with the colleagues he was bound to bump into at one of his favorite clubs.
The only person he really wanted to see was Shannon.
Unfortunately, she’d made it more than clear that she wasn’t interested in spending time with him outside of her contractual obligation.
He offered to drive her home or anywhere else she needed to go, but she refused. He invited her to dinner, but she turned him down in favor of studying or waiting tables at The Tavern. It didn’t take Burke long to realize she was trying to avoid him anywhere but at Dr. Cox’s office.
Which was no more than he should expect. Their relationship was based on a business deal, nothing more. She’d agreed to carry his child; she didn’t need to be his dinner companion as well.
But darned if he didn’t wish she would accept even one of his invitations. Give him an excuse to spend just a little more time with her.
And, frankly, there was no one else he could share his news with. No one other than Shannon, Dr. Cox and perhaps Margaret.
His smile slipped a fraction as he threw a pack of low-fat luncheon meat on the counter, along with a loaf of bread, a head of lettuce and mayonnaise. Thank God for Margaret. She not only kept his office running smoothly, but stopped by his apartment once a week, too, to restock his refrigerator. Otherwise, this lettuce wouldn’t look nearly as fresh and crisp—if he owned lettuce at all.
This wasn’t the first time he’d been struck by the knowledge that he had no family left, and no true friends. Not that his family had been so great to begin with. His parents had spent years in a loveless, contentious marriage. Burke had been a lonely, often ignored only child, many times suspecting he’d been an unplanned and unwelcome addition to that hostile relationship.
But both of his parents were now gone. His father had been killed in a car accident some fifteen years earlier, and his mother had mourned the loss for all of six weeks before finding herself another husband to harangue, eventually succumbing to cirrhosis of the liver from too many bottles of cheap wine.
Except for a college buddy or two whom he kept in touch with, he didn’t really have any friends, either. Acquaintances stopped by the office or called every couple of weeks to ask him for money, but he wouldn’t consider any of them actual friends.
Everyone wanted something from Burke Ellison Bishop, he thought as he took a giant bite of his ham sandwich.
Even Shannon was using him for her own benefit. But at least with her, he would be getting something in return. And that something was the one thing he’d always wanted—a child of his own.
And that little boy or girl would be his chance to show that he could be a better parent than his had been to him. A chance to love and be loved. To reclaim a small part of his childhood and leave something of himself behind in the world when he was dead and gone.
The last week of October, Shannon sat in the exact same office, in the exact same chair as on that first, monumental appointment with Dr. Cox.
Also as before, Burke sat next to her, waiting to hear what the doctor had to say about her latest exam. She knew he hadn’t been happy about it, but she’d refused to let Burke in the room with her this time while she was all but naked.
A part of her felt guilty about that. This was his child, after all, and she was only the surrogate mother. But she’d grown increasingly uncomfortable around him ever since she’d learned of her pregnancy.
No, that wasn’t entirely true. Her desire to avoid him hadn’t started when she’d found out about the baby, but when she’d realized she was becoming sexually attracted to the baby’s father.
It was a difficult situation to be in, and the thought of having to be in such close contact with him off and on over the next several months already set her nerves on edge.
That, along with the myriad symptoms of her pregnancy, had her body in an uproar. She’d devoured an entire bag of corn chips on the way to the clinic and was still starving. Oh, she suffered morning sickness on a daily basis, but once those bouts of nausea wore off, she turned ravenous.
Headaches, dizziness, fatigue, and even the tenderness in her breasts, she’d expected. But these uncontrollable cravings were driving her crazy.
Right now, a large, deep-dish pizza with all the fixings sounded like heaven. Pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, black olives, onions, anchovies, green peppers, extra cheese… She sighed inwardly, knowing she wouldn’t get a lick of studying done tonight until at least half a Chicago-style pie filled her stomach.
To her right, the office door opened and Dr. Cox entered, scribbling on her chart. “Everything looks good,” he told them, taking a seat behind his desk. “As long as you’re feeling well enough, I’m going to suggest you keep doing what you’re doing.”
She nodded, visions of pizza toppings dancing in her head.
“Are you still getting headaches and feeling tired?”
From the corner of her eye, she saw Burke’s brows knit. “Yes, but I’ve been taking naps, and the headaches aren’t that bad.”
“An ibuprofen or two wouldn’t hurt, if you needed them.”
Shannon shook her head. “I’d rather not. I don’t like the idea of taking anything I don’t have to. Not if I can avoid it.”
The doctor nodded, apparently agreeing. He recommended a cool cloth or face mask for the time being and said he’d see them again in a month.
Just like the last time, Burke walked her out of the doctor’s office, toward his car. He looked amazing in a dark suit and long, tan camel-hair coat. No wonder he’d been on the cover of GQ twice already.
They’d hardly spoken since meeting in the waiting room an hour ago, which only added to her current discomfort. He was so sophisticated and worldly, while she struggled to hold down a job and keep up with her college course load. And she was beginning to feel like a frump in her long, earth-colored skirts and oversize sweaters when Burke always looked as though he’d stepped off the cover of…well, GQ.
“I’ll see you home,” he said finally, interrupting her thoughts.
“That’s all right. I came in on the El, I’ll be fine going back.”
She’d used the same excuse before and he’d accepted it, but now his lips thinned into a determined line as he wrapped a hand around her elbow.
“I insist.”
Before she could balk, he’d led her to the open door of the limo and guided her inside. She sat on the softly upholstered seat, feeling stunned, while he settled himself beside her.
“This really isn’t necessary,” she continued to argue. “I don’t mind walking. I was going to stop for pizza on the way home, anyway.”
“I mind,” he said, ignoring her subtle hint about how hungry she was. “This is downtown Chicago, and although you may be safe enough during the day, it’s not a good idea to wander around the city at night.”
“It’s not even five o’clock,” she pointed out. “And I hadn’t planned to ‘wander,’ just make my way home.”
His gaze narrowed, making it obvious her arguments were falling on deaf ears. “I don’t like thinking about you walking everywhere alone. From now on, you’ll have a vehicle at your disposal.”
“You’re buying me a car?” she asked, her jaw dropping.
“Of course not. I’ll assign you a
driver.”
She almost laughed at her wildly incorrect assumption. “You don’t have to do that,” she insisted.
“I know I don’t have to,” he told her, “I want to. He’ll be outside your apartment building every morning, at whatever time you like.”
She could just imagine being the only chauffeured student on campus. “I’d rather walk.”
Burke’s eyes drifted closed and she heard him sigh. “The car will be there by eight o’clock each and every day. If you choose to walk, the driver will be instructed to follow, so you might as well make use of my generosity.”
She studied him for a moment, noting the strong line of his jaw and the determined glint in his storm-gray eyes.
“You’re used to getting your own way, aren’t you?”
She hadn’t expected an answer, but she got one anyway—in the form of a tight, confident grin.
“You heard the doctor say walking is good for me,” she tried one last, futile time.
“I’ll buy you a treadmill.”
Yep, futile. Arguing with him was like trying to scale Mount Everest on a tricycle.
“Fine. A car and driver would be lovely, thank you.”
His deep, rumbling chuckle caused a clutch in her belly.
“You’re welcome.”
Stifling a yawn, Shannon leaned her head back against the soft leather seat. “Does your driver know where he’s going?” she asked.
“Of course.”
She was still hungry, but suddenly exhaustion washed over her, competing with her growling stomach.
“I’m just going to rest my eyes for a minute,” she murmured drowsily. “I was up late last night, studying.”
“Go ahead,” he whispered, putting an arm around her shoulders and urging her close to his broad, warm body.
In the back of her mind, a voice warned her that Burke was touching her, that her cheek rested against the softness of his coat and his hand was rubbing comforting circles on her upper arm. That same voice suggested she be alarmed and pull away, but she couldn’t seem to wake up enough to do either. Instead, she inhaled the woodsy, masculine scent of his cologne and fell into the deepest, most comfortable sleep she’d experienced in weeks.
A slight lurch and a chill breeze from the open door of the limo woke her. Shannon didn’t know how long she’d been napping, but a considerable amount of time had obviously passed because she didn’t recognize her surroundings.
Burke was no longer in the car with her, either. She was about to get out to see where they were when a young man wearing a white uniform with a red cap leaned into the car and began stacking thin cardboard cartons on the seat. He disappeared before she could ask him what was going on, and Burke reappeared, situating himself on the other side of the tall stack of boxes.
“Are those what I think they are?” she asked, catching a whiff of something absolutely mouthwatering. Her fingers sneaked toward the corner of the first box.
“You said you wanted pizza,” he answered simply, sliding the top container off the pile and setting it on her lap. “I didn’t know what toppings you like, though, so I had them make up a little of everything.”
“Are you serious?” She lifted the lid of the pizza on her lap and inhaled deeply. Her stomach growled in appreciation as she stared, awestruck, at the evidence of his generosity.
“Oh, Lord,” she breathed, “this looks so good.”
“Then why aren’t you eating?”
She turned her head and noticed the glint of humor in his eyes to match the teasing note in his voice. With a grin, she separated a single piece from the jam-packed pie and dug in.
Three slices later, she was still moaning in near ecstasy. She wiped her mouth with one of the napkins that had come with the pizzas and patted her overstuffed belly.
“That was so thoughtful of you, thank you very much.”
She settled a hand on Burke’s knee. She did it without conscious thought, without considering the consequences…and without worrying about what he might read into the gesture. And when his hand moved to cover her own, she didn’t pull away, regardless of the impact the action had on her growing attraction to him.
“I was glad to do it. Are you sure you don’t want more?”
Groaning, she shook her head. “Heavens, no. I couldn’t eat another bite. But it was delicious, and just what I was craving. Thank you,” she said again. She slipped her hand out from under his then, afraid to let the contact go on much longer.
“Have you gotten many cravings already?” he wanted to know as he moved the pizza boxes a few at a time to the otherwise empty seat across from them.
Shannon swallowed, trying not to read too much into his behavior. She’d touched his leg. He’d covered her hand with his own. And now he was clearing the space between them. It all made her very nervous, and she found herself holding her breath, waiting to see if he would slide closer.
When he merely leaned back to focus his gaze on her face once again, she began to relax and consider the best answer to his question.
If she told him she’d devoured an entire bag—family size, not single serving—of corn chips on the way to the doctor’s office, he’d think she was a glutton. Then again, she had been experiencing odd hunger pangs which she attributed to the early stages of her pregnancy. And being the baby’s father—as well as her employer—she supposed he had a right to know the God’s honest truth.
“Only a few,” she told him, taking a sip of the bottled water he’d bought for her, along with the pizzas.
“Like what?”
As much as it embarrassed her, she admitted the earlier corn chip incident and was surprised by his deep, amused chuckle.
“I also stocked up on six different flavors of ice cream, when I don’t usually keep much around. And gummi bears,” she admitted, digging into her purse to retrieve the plastic baggie filled with rainbow-colored candies. “Do you know anyone over the age of six who actually eats these things?”
One corner of his mouth still lifted in a half grin, he said, “Pregnant women, apparently.”
He reached over, untwisted the tie on the baggie, and plucked out a single, bright-yellow gummi bear. “And expectant fathers.”
Shannon watched as he chewed, wondering how much The National Inquisitor would pay for a story about Chicago’s most eligible bachelor eating gummi bears in the back of his limousine. With the surrogate mother of his unborn child, she added, and laughed silently.
“Not bad,” Burke murmured. “Not quite as wonderful as I remember, but I can understand why you’re craving them.”
He finished prying the sticking concoction away from his molars and turned to her, more serious now. “I hope you’ll let me know if there’s anything you need. Anything at all, including corn chips or ice cream at three in the morning.”
She smiled, touched by his concern and obvious excitement about becoming a father. “Thank you, but I’m hoping it won’t come to that. Not for several more months, at least.”
She saw him swallow and his jaw tighten. His fingers clenched and then released where his arms rested atop his legs.
“Right. We’ve got a ways to go, I guess.”
“Seven more months, to be exact,” she said as the limo pulled to a stop outside her apartment building.
It was hard to believe she was pregnant at all. But here she was, two months along, carrying a child for a man she hardly knew.
Her mother would die if she knew, even though Shannon was doing this for all the right reasons. And though she had no intention of not visiting her mother at Meadow Lark for the duration of her pregnancy, she had decided not to tell her mom what she was doing until she absolutely had to. Shannon figured that would be about the time she began to show and her mother started to guess.
Her mother wouldn’t understand, insisting there were other ways to get the money they so desperately needed. But since the deed was already done and a child was most certainly on the way, she also knew her mother would be a
ccepting of her decision. Her only real complaint might be that she wouldn’t have contact with her only grandchild after it was born.
Shannon was having a few problems with that herself. But a deal was a deal. She’d known from the beginning that it would be difficult to give up a child who had grown inside her for nine months, but she also knew Burke would be a good father. He would love his child and give it everything he or she could ever need, while there was no way Shannon could afford to support a baby at this point in her life. Even if she could imagine falling in love with it, given half the chance.
Burke’s driver opened her door and offered his hand to help her out. Burke exited from the other side and began removing pizza boxes.
“Let me carry these up for you.”
“Oh, no. There’s no way I can eat all of those,” she said, standing on the sidewalk and watching the boxes pile up one after another on the trunk of the sleek black car.
“Isn’t there anyone else you can give them to?” She turned to the chauffeur who stood at her elbow, waiting to see if she needed anything else. “You’ll take some, won’t you?”
The man glanced at Burke, as though looking for permission to answer her question. When Burke didn’t seem opposed, he said, “Yes, ma’am. I’ll see they don’t go to waste.”
Burke seemed to be fighting a smile as he lifted the lids on a couple of boxes, picked one he liked and carried it around the car to where she stood.
“You can put the rest of the pizzas back in the car, Davis. And take them home with you this evening, if you like. I’ll see Ms. Moriarty to her apartment.”
She opened her mouth to tell him he didn’t need to accompany her, but closed it again when she recognized the determined expression on his face. “Thank you,” she said simply, before turning and heading inside.
It wasn’t easy for her to accept Burke’s generosity and protectiveness. She was too used to fending for herself, as well as caring for others.
All her life, she’d been the responsible one. Her father had left when she was a baby, and her mother had worked two jobs for as long as Shannon could remember to provide for them. As an only child who often ended up alone, she’d learned to both look out for and entertain herself. And when her mother had become ill, she hadn’t thought twice about doing whatever was necessary to see that she got the proper housing and medical care.
