by Karen Booth
Everything else workwise was already in place—when Sylvia decided to acquire Kama, it came together very fast. Last week, they’d moved everything into a new manufacturing space outside Boston. It was ten times bigger than the original facility and the air-conditioning worked—no small matter now that it was the middle of June. They’d hired ten new assembly people, three more employees to manage the warehouse. Tessa was overseeing the production facility, and she’d received a big fat raise for taking on her new responsibilities. Sarah couldn’t have been any happier about being able to reward her for a job well done. The change also left much more time for Sarah to spend on designing, selecting fabrics and planning out the next several seasons. It was hard to believe, but everything on the work front was really coming together.
Saturdays at Aiden’s were pretty low-key. Today had been no different, although they were anxiously awaiting a call from Jacob since Anna had gone into labor that morning. To pass the time, Sarah and Aiden had taken Oliver for a long walk, then grabbed some lunch. The baby had his nap after that, and they turned their dinner into a picnic up on the rooftop terrace. Now that it was nearly eight, Sarah was getting a bit of work done in Aiden’s home office. Oliver was already in bed and Aiden had camped out with a book in the library.
Aiden’s phone, which he’d left on the desk, rang. She glanced at the screen and grabbed it. “Oh my God. Aiden!” she yelled out. “It’s Jacob. Get in here!” She answered the call. “Jacob? Aiden’s in the other room. I figured I should answer. Is there news?”
“It’s a girl,” he said triumphantly. “Eight pounds, seven ounces. Twenty-one inches long. Big head of thick, black hair. She’s beautiful.”
Sarah loved hearing the good news, but Aiden was missing it. She got up from the desk to search for him. “Congratulations. I’m so happy. How’s Anna?” She reached the library. No Aiden. Weird.
“She’s tired, but she’s doing great. We’re both relieved the baby’s finally here and she’s healthy. It’s been such a rocky road.”
“Oh, I know. She’s your miracle baby. It’s wonderful.” Into the kitchen she traveled. Still no Aiden. “Do you have a name yet?”
“Grace. It’s Anna’s middle name.”
Sarah glanced into the living room, which was also empty. “That’s so beautiful. You must be so thrilled.”
“I am, but I also have a million more phone calls to make. If you could tell Aiden, that’d be great. I’m sure Anna will want to speak to you both at some point.”
Up the stairs Sarah went. “I don’t know if you guys will be up for it, but we have Oliver’s birthday party next Saturday.”
“Oh, right. We’ll have to see how it goes, I guess. We might need to call you for some baby advice.”
“Absolutely no problem. Whatever you need. Love to all three of you. Can’t wait to see her.” She ended the call, but didn’t dare yell now that she was in the hall. She’d wake Oliver. Where in the world was Aiden?
The door to his bedroom was closed. Now that they’d been cohabitating for nearly a month, she didn’t hesitate to open it. But the knob wouldn’t turn. It was locked.
She leaned against the door, but heard nothing. She rapped quietly and waited. She couldn’t text him—she had his phone. She knocked again. Finally, he answered.
“Hey,” he said, seeming flustered. He raked his hand through his hair, poking his head through the narrow opening he’d left.
“Your sister had a baby girl. Her name is Grace. That’s what’s up. Where have you been?”
His shoulders dropped. “Damn. I can’t believe I missed that call. That’s a bummer. Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s great. I told them you send your best.” She tried to peek into his room, but could see nothing. “What are you doing in there? Can I come in?” He was behaving so strangely.
“I’m working on something. A surprise. But it’s not ready.”
She laughed quietly, curious what he was up to. Her birthday wasn’t until October. “Like that’s not cryptic. Do you want me to go away?”
“No. No. It’s okay. I was going to call you up in a minute anyway. Just close your eyes and I’ll lead you to the bed.”
“If that’s where we’re going, it’s not a surprise. Not that I won’t enjoy it immensely.” She elbowed him in the stomach, but he didn’t take the joke. He was dead serious, so she decided to follow orders.
“Just a minute,” he said when she was seated on the bed. “Be right back.”
With her eyes closed, she listened for clues. He started singing. She’d never heard Aiden sing. Not once.
“How’s it going in there?” she asked.
“You’re so impatient.” His voice was close—as if he were right next to her. He took her hand and she opened her eyes. “Ready?” He had a huge grin on his face.
“Yes.” She trailed behind him into the bathroom. The lights were off. The marble countertops were covered in an array of lit candles. “Ooh. Bath night. So romantic.”
“I had to make it romantic. For you.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he planted a soft and sensuous kiss on her lips. “That’s adorable. I love that you made an extra effort for our Saturday night together.”
He kissed her again, on her cheek, beneath her ear, on that extrasensitive spot on her neck. “It’s more special than that.”
Again, with the clues and mysterious phrasings. His kisses, however amazing, weren’t helping. They made it difficult to think straight. “What kind of special?”
He cupped the side of her face and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I don’t want to let you go.”
Let me go? Oh my God. She clapped her hand over her mouth. “Aiden. Are you?”
“Shh. Just let me ask.” He plucked a washcloth from the counter. A blue Tiffany box was beneath it. He popped it open, smiling wide and presenting her with the most gorgeous diamond ring she’d ever seen. “I love you so much. I want you to be my wife and Oliver’s mother. Will you marry me?”
She blinked away tears, her heart about to burst from pure joy. “Yes. Of course.” He placed the ring on her finger, and she popped up onto her toes, kissing him hard before stealing the chance to admire the diamond. “It’s so gorgeous. Did you tell the people at Tiffany you were going to ask me in the bathroom?”
He laughed. “No. Do you know why I chose this room?”
She shrugged. “Because you like taking a shower with me?”
“That’s part of it, but not the real reason.” He took her left hand, straightening the ring. “That first night we gave Oliver a bath was the beginning of our life together. As a family. I wanted to acknowledge the start before we step into our future.”
Tears welled again. “That is the sweetest thing ever.”
“That was also the first time I caught you staring at me. That was sort of a big deal.”
She swatted his arm. “I can’t help it. You’re just way too hot.” Whatever she’d done to be lucky enough to have Aiden, she was glad she’d done it.
He cranked the faucet on the tub and turned his attention to her top, lifting it over her head. His heavenly lips skimmed her shoulder. “I can’t wait to get in this bathtub with you and make love to you all night and talk about our future together.”
Their future together. “Now I don’t have to worry about the perfect guy walking into my life. I found him.”
“Actually, I’m pretty sure you walked into his.”
* * * * *
If you liked this story of a wealthy CEO tamed by the love of the right woman, pick up these other novels from Karen Booth.
THAT NIGHT WITH THE CEO
PREGNANT BY THE RIVAL CEO
THE CEO DADDY NEXT DOOR
THE BEST MAN’S BABY
Available now from Harlequin Desire!
***
And don’t miss the next BILLIONAIRES AND BABIES story, FALLING FOR HIS WIFE by USA TODAY bestselling author Kat Cantrell Available May 2017!
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Keep reading for an excerpt from EXPECTING THE BILLIONAIRE’S BABY by Andrea Laurence.
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Expecting the Billionaire’s Baby
by Andrea Laurence
One
“You can do this, Cecelia.”
Cecelia Morgan attempted to encourage herself as she looked over her portfolio for the hundredth time. Tomorrow, she was presenting her design plans to the board of directors of the new Bellamy Hotel. This was a big step for her and her company, To the Moon. The company she started after college specialized in children’s furniture, bedding and toys. From the beginning she had targeted a high-end market, catering to wealthy parents who were looking for luxury products for their children.
The company had been a success from the very start. What had begun as a small online boutique had exploded into a series of stores across the United States after a celebrity posted on social media about how much they loved one of TTM’s nursery designs. Cecelia had been forced to open her own production facility and warehouse outside her hometown of Royal, Texas, to keep up with the demand.
The portfolio on the desk in front of her, however, could take To the Moon to the next level. Designing furniture, toys and accessories for pampered little ones had been her first love, but now Cecelia was ready for her business to mature along with her tastes. The Bellamy Hotel was her chance to make this a reality.
The Bellamy was a brand-new five-star resort opening right outside Royal. Owner Shane Delgado had contacted Cecelia about decorating and furnishing the hotel about a month ago, after a previous designer had been fired well into the process. This would be a big step for Cecelia. If she could secure the contract with The Bellamy, it would give her the footing she needed to branch out into the luxury adult furniture market.
As her daddy always said, if you’re not moving forward, you might as well be moving backward. She was successful, but that wasn’t enough for the Morgans. Her subsidiary of To the Moon—Luna Fine Furnishings—could change everything for her.
She was shocked that Shane had reached out to her, given he was pretty clear he’d dismissed her as part of the mean girls clique, along with her best friends Simone and Naomi. Admittedly, she wasn’t very nice to his girlfriend Brandee and recent gossip had been less than flattering about Cecelia and her friends. Some even suspected them of being behind the recent blackmailings. Shane was taking a huge leap of faith inviting her to submit her ideas for this incredible opportunity; she wasn’t about to screw this up.
Cecelia gathered up everything into her portfolio binder and slipped it into her leather briefcase. She’d probably gone over it a hundred times already. She needed to stop fiddling with it and just let it lie. It was perfect. Some of her best work yet. As usual, she was putting too much pressure on herself. Her parents certainly didn’t help matters. They always held Cecelia, their only child, to very high standards and never accepted anything less than perfection.
She supposed that was why she was so successful. Brent and Tilly Morgan were practically Texas royalty and had raised their daughter to follow in their footsteps. She went to the best private schools, rode horses and competed in dressage in high school, and went on to graduate summa cum laude with a business degree from a prestigious Ivy League university. Anything less for the younger Morgan would’ve been unacceptable.
While her parents had been supportive both emotionally and financially when it came to her company, Cecelia always worried that their support came at a price. If Luna Fine Furnishings wasn’t the success that she hoped for, she might never hear the end of it. The last thing she needed was for her father to pat her on the back and tell her that maybe she needed to just stick with the baby things. You know...woman stuff. Or worse yet, to hand the business over to someone else and focus on settling down with Chip Ashford to make actual babies instead of baby furniture.
She wasn’t opposed to settling down with Chip—he was her fiancé after all—but she certainly didn’t want to throw away everything that she’d worked for in the process. Chip was a Texas senator, and he had been very supportive of her business so far. But Cecelia got the feeling that once they got married, Chip might feel the same way as her parents did.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want kids. Cecelia wanted her own children more than anything. But she was confident that she could be both a mother and the CEO of her own company. She didn’t intend to set one ambition aside for the other.
A chime sounded on Cecelia’s phone. She reached for it and tapped the screen to open up the Snapchat notification she’d just received for a private message. It took her a moment to realize what she was actually looking at. The picture was of a document with small text, but the header at the top brought a sinking feeling to her stomach. It read “Certificate of Birth” with the seal of the state of Texas on the bottom corner. The message across the screen was far more worrisome.
Somebody has got a secret.
Cecelia looked once more at the photo before it disappeared. It was then that she realized that this wasn’t just any birth certificate, it was her original birth certificate. The one issued before she was adopted by the Morgans.
For a moment, Cecelia almost couldn’t breathe. Her adoption had always been kept a secret. Everyone, including members of her extended family, believed that Cecelia was Brent and Tilly’s biological daughter. Even Cecelia had believed it until her thirteenth birthday. That night, they’d told her that she was adopted but that they had kept it a secret for her own protection. The unfortunate truth was that her birth mother had been a junkie, and child services had taken Cecelia away from her when she was only a few weeks old. Her mother had overdosed not long after that, and she was put up for adoption. The Morgans thought that it was best if Cecelia’s birth mother and that dark past were kept secret.
But someone had found out.
Cecelia didn’t know how—she hadn’t even seen her original birth certificate before. A new one had been issued when her adoption was finalized, so someone had done some serious sleuthing to find it.
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Another image popped up on her screen. This one was a message written in letters cut from magazines like some sort of ransom note. She supposed that in some way, it was a ransom note. It demanded that twenty-five thousand dollars be wired to an account within twenty-four hours or her secret would be exposed to the entire town. It was signed, Maverick.
Considering everything that had been happening in Royal, Texas, lately, she should’ve known she would be targeted eventually. Maverick had been wreaking havoc on the lives of Royal residents for the past few months. This anonymous blackmailer had been the talk of the town, and everyone at the Texas Cattleman’s Club had suspicions about who it could be. The most recent suspects had been Cecelia herself, along with Naomi and Simone.
Cecelia was a busy woman. She ran her own business, served as arm candy for her fiancé’s various political events, was busy keeping up appearances for her parents and for Chip... She hardly had time in her schedule to get a manicure, much less to research and dig up dirt on her fellow residents. Her busy schedule and high standards made her come off as a bit snobbish, and Cecelia supposed she was, but she was no blackmailer. Unfortunately, the only way to prove it was to let everyone know that she was Maverick’s latest victim.
That certainly wasn’t an option. She couldn’t have the whole town knowing that her entire life was a lie.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t just her secret. Her parents had built their lives around their perfect “biological” daughter. They’d lied to countless family members and friends to keep up the charade, but they’d only done it to protect her. Paying Maverick was probably the only way to shield Brent and Tilly from the fallout.
But hers wasn’t the only family she had to worry about. The Ashfords would have a fit. Chip came from a certain kind of family, and he believed that Cecelia was cut from the same cloth. Would Chip call off the engagement if he found out the truth? Their relationship was more about appearances and family alliances than love, but she hoped that Chip cared enough about her not to throw everything away if her secret got out. As far as she was concerned, she was a Morgan, through and through.
