Summer Temptation (Hot in the Hamptons Book 2)

by Wendy S. Marcus

  “She refused potato chips,” Kelsey added.

  “Told me she was worried about fitting into her dress for the wedding,” Storme said. “And she’d started eating yogurt and drinking milk.”

  “I ran out to the pharmacy and bought a test,” Kelsey said. “We stood outside the bathroom door until she took it.”

  “Then we all cried when it turned out to be positive.” Storme wiped at her eye again. “I’ve never seen her so unhappy. Now, on top of that, she has to say goodbye to her grandpa, who helped raise her. And you know she’ll be worrying about her dad’s heart and how she’s going to tell him.”

  I’d heard enough. “What’s her dad’s address?” I took out my phone, ready to plug it into my GPS.

  Neither one answered. “I agree with Storme,” I told them. “Leigh’s got too much going on to deal with it all on her own. She needs someone to lean on. Let me be the one to go after her.” I stared directly at Storme. “Please.” When she just stood there looking at me, trying to decide, I added, “I love her.” I hadn’t planned for it to happen, but it had.

  Four hours later, the GPS guided me into an upscale neighborhood in Harrison, New York, one of the wealthiest suburbs in Westchester County. I passed by several large homes with perfectly manicured lawns and gardens before I found number twelve on my right and pulled into a long paved driveway.

  The two-story red brick house, with interesting architecture and lots of windows, could easily have graced the cover of a magazine, yet it didn’t scream, ‘A billionaire lives here.’ I drove up to the four car garage and parked beside Leigh’s Subaru.

  A minute later I rang the bell, my heart pounding, not sure who would answer the door or what type of reception I’d receive. The only thing I was sure of was that I had to come, had to at least try to console her.

  Leigh answered the door, wearing a simple black dress and simple black heels, her eyes red and puffy, and my heart broke. She didn’t look surprised to see me and said nothing as she stepped aside to let me in. After she closed the door, she said, “Kelsey called to tell me you were on the way. I tried to call you but—”

  “I didn’t answer. Nothing you could have said would have stopped me from coming.” I walked toward her. “I’m so sorry to hear about your grandfather.” I gave her a hug. She stood stiffly and didn’t hug me back, not at all like the warm, affectionate Leigh I’d been dating for more than six weeks. A bad sign. I released her.

  “We just got home from my grandfather’s memorial service.”

  “So soon?”

  “Dad wanted it done right away, so like he always does, he made it happen.” She dabbed at her eye with a tissue. “My grandfather’s body will be cremated later today.”

  The doorbell rang. “Damn it. I told him to stay in the car until I could—”

  Leigh opened the door and there stood Murphy, holding the fruit basket he’d insisted I stop to get after he’d insisted on coming with me.

  “Murphy!” Leigh took the fruit basket and thrust it in my direction. “I’m so glad you came.” Then she threw herself into my granddad’s arms and sobbed harder than I’d ever seen a woman cry in my life.

  “There, there.” Murphy patted her back while he looked over her shoulder and gave me one of his, ‘I told you so’ looks.

  Fine. He’d been right. Again.

  Garrett DeGray walked into the entryway, wearing a dark gray suit, asking, “Who’s at the door?”

  “Mr. DeGray.” I held out my hand. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “In my home, it’s Garrett.” He shook my hand, his grip firm, glancing toward Leigh and my granddad, then back at me.

  “That’s my grandfather, Murphy Kenzy,” I explained. “He and Leigh have grown close over the past few weeks. He insisted on coming with me.”

  Murphy held out a hand, Leigh still clinging to him, crying. “Nice to meet you.”

  Garrett shook his hand. “Please. Come in. Leigh, let Murphy move.” He turned back to me. “She and her grandfather were very close. She’s taking his passing very hard.” He looked at his daughter with concern and quietly added, “I’ve never seen her this upset. Not even after her mother died.”

  Leigh stepped away from Murphy, wiping her eyes, still sniffling. “I’m sorry.” She took the fruit basket, not making eye contact with any of us. “Thank you for your thoughtful gift. You’ve had a long drive. Please come in.” We followed her to a nice, very upscale sitting room. “Make yourselves comfortable. The bathroom is down the hall on the right.” She pointed. “I’ll go pour us some iced tea.” Then she turned and left the room.

  Typical Leigh, striving to do the right thing and take care of others, but she didn’t have to, not today, not for Murphy and me. “I’ll go help,” I told Garrett, following after her.

  I found Leigh in the huge, modern kitchen, with lots of black and lots of chrome, holding on to the handle of a huge black refrigerator, staring down at the speckled marble countertop, motionless.

  I walked up behind her. “You don’t have to wait on us.”

  She turned, slowly, looking so sad, so lost. I opened my arms and she stepped into them, setting her head to my shoulder. I hugged her tightly. This time she hugged me back. “I know it sounds trite, but everything really is going to be okay.”

  She nodded. “At some point. But right now…” She inhaled a shuddery breath, then let it out. “Right now it doesn’t feel that way.” We stood there for a few minutes. It was as if I could feel her body relaxing in my arms. It felt good.

  “Storme told you,” she said.

  “That you’re pregnant? Yes.”

  “That you’re what?” Garrett DeGray bellowed. “Pregnant?” He grabbed onto the island counter with one hand and clutched his chest with the other.

  “Daddy!” Leigh ran toward him. “Where are your pills?”

  He fumbled in the pocket of his suit jacket and handed her a small prescription bottle.

  She quickly opened it and handed him the medicine, and he slipped it under his tongue.

  Murphy smacked the back of my head. “Nicholas Vincent Kenzy, your parents raised you better than that. Of all the stupid, irresponsible—”

  “The baby isn’t his,” Leigh said, helping her father onto a stool.

  “But you two…” Murphy said, looking between me and Leigh.

  She undid her dad’s tie and unbuttoned the top button of his dress shirt. “It happened before we met.”

  “She told me she might be pregnant before we started dating,” I added.

  “And you dated her anyway,” Murphy said. A statement not a question.

  “Because she’s something special,” I explained, looking at her, wishing I could take her back into my arms.

  “Yes, she is,” Garrett said, reaching up to cup Leigh’s cheek. “But honest to God, Leigh. How could you let this happen? You have such a bright future ahead of you.” He glanced at me. “If Nick’s not the father, who is?”

  “For right now, that doesn’t matter, Dad.”

  “It most certainly does matter,” Garrett said boldly, his cardiac episode apparently over. “The father has responsibilities. You’ll need to get married.”

  The thought of Leigh with any other man filled me with a jealous rage.

  Leigh looked pale.

  Needing to take care of her, I opened some cabinets, found a glass and filled it with the iced tea I found in the refrigerator. Then I carried it over to where she stood. “Come on.” I put my free hand on her low back and guided her to the chair next to her dad. “Sit down before you fall down.”

  She did. After a few sips, she turned to face her father. “I made a mistake, and now I’m pregnant. I won’t compound that mistake by marrying a man I don’t love and who doesn’t love me.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Garrett said, as if marrying for love was a farce.

  “I’ve already decided,” Leigh said. “I’m going to do this on my own.”

  “Leigh,” Garrett
said miserably.

  “Not really on my own because I have you.” She placed her hand on her father’s knee. He covered it with his. “Even though I know you’re disappointed in me right now, and you have every right to be, I know you’ll always be there for me and my baby. You’ll be a wonderful grandfather, like your father was a wonderful grandfather to me.”

  Tears leaked out of her eyes and down her cheeks. Damn if tears didn’t fill Garrett’s eyes, too. And mine. I glanced to my side, and added Murphy’s to the list.

  “You have me, too.” The words popped out of my mouth without a second thought.

  “And me.” Murphy stepped forward.

  “We could get married,” tumbled out of my mouth.

  Leigh looked at me like I had a trout flopping around on my head.

  Leigh

  Oh. My. God.

  Nick did not just propose.

  “Okay,” he said, looking directly at me. “I know.” He ran his hand over his head. “As far as marriage proposals go, that one sucked. I mean, I don’t even have a ring.”

  “You could use this one.” Murphy pulled on a chain around his neck to reveal two silver colored rings dangling on the end. “They belonged to my Lilly.” He held them out to me. “She’d love for you to have them.”

  “I…” didn’t know what to say. Emotion clogged my throat.

  Nick walked toward me, taking my hands into his, staring into my eyes. “I know we’ve only known each other for a few weeks, but it’s been long enough for me to know you’re the one for me, Leigh.”

  So sincere, but, “Do you love me?” I refused to marry for any reason but love.

  Nick hesitated, and I had my answer. I tried to pull my hands away, but he wouldn’t let me.

  “Yes,” he said. “I do love you.”

  If he did, then why hadn’t he said so before today? “No, you don’t.”

  “I do,” he said calmly.

  “You hesitated.”

  “Because before I said those words, which I have never said to another woman, I’ll have you know, I wanted to be sure I meant them. It took me a few seconds to be absolutely, positively sure that yes, I do love you. That I want us to be together.”

  He couldn’t possibly love me. “It’s too soon. And the baby, I don’t expect you to—”

  “I love you and I’ll love your baby…like it was my own.”

  “You don’t want children. They ruin everything, you said so yourself.”

  “I don’t want obnoxious children who say rude things. We’ll have to raise our child better than that.”

  Our child? Everything was happening too fast…so unexpected. He sounded sincere and sweet, but I couldn’t take a chance, wouldn’t tie him down.

  I walked over to Murphy. “Thank you for offering, but no.” I took the rings from his hand and tucked them back beneath his shirt.

  Nick said, “If you want something different, we can go shopping. You can pick out whatever you want.”

  I gave Murphy a kiss on the cheek. “It would be an honor to wear your wonderful Lilly’s rings,” I told him, adding, “Someday. But not today.”

  I turned to Nick. “Thank you for offering.” I walked to him and gave him a hug. “But, no.” I stepped back to look up at him. “I won’t rush into marriage because I’m scared of the future. And I won’t let you rush into marriage because you’re trying to be honorable or because you feel sorry for me.”

  “I don’t—”

  “If you’d like for us to continue dating after the summer, I would like that.” I gave him a small smile. “Very much.”

  “I do want to.”

  Pure joy surged inside of me. “After the baby’s born, if we’re still together, and you still want to, we can talk about marriage.”

  He pulled me into his arms. “I’ll still want to.”

  I hoped so.

  “What about your job?” my dad asked me.

  I let out a breath and stepped away from the safety of Nick’s embrace. Over the past forty-eight hours I’d given it a lot of thought. “I’ll call them tomorrow and tell them I can’t accept it.”

  “Damn it.” He pushed up from his chair.

  “Please, Dad.” I set my hand on his shoulder. “Calm down. I’ll find something else. Something local that won’t require such long hours and so much travel.” I looked up into the eyes of the man who’d raised me. “You taught me to work hard and be self-sufficient. I’ll make you proud. I promise.”

  Dad softened in an instant. “You’ve always made me proud, Leigh. I love you.”

  I threw my arms around him. “I love you, too.” He gave me a tight squeeze back.

  When he stepped away, he pointed directly at Nick. “Now you. Why haven’t you responded to my job offer?”

  Nick stared right back at him, standing tall, not the least bit intimidated. Good for him! “I wasn’t sure if you made your very generous offer based on my skills and experience or based on my relationship with your daughter.”

  Dad nodded approvingly. “A little of both.” He sat back down. “Your relationship with my daughter is what got you in the door. But your resumé, your interview, and an exceptional reference from your last supervisor are what earned you the job offer.”

  “Good to know,” Nick said.

  “So you’ll take it?” Dad asked.

  Nick looked at me. “Leigh and I will discuss it.”

  “As long as you know,” Dad said to Nick, “I will not stand for my future son-in-law, especially one with your credentials, working for anyone but me.”

  What? “Dad! Nick is not your future-son-in-law.”

  “But someday soon I’d like to be,” Nick said, looking at me. “And I think it needs to be said that I love you for you, Leigh, not for who your dad is or for the lucrative job he offered me.”

  “I know that, Nick.” Without a doubt.

  “I’m a hard-worker and self-sufficient, too.”

  “Yes he is,” Murphy added.

  “As of yesterday I’ve got three job offers for us to talk over.”

  I loved that he valued my opinion.

  “Wait a minute,” my dad said.

  “Stop it, Dad. Nick will decide which job he’s going to take.” Hopefully it’d be the job with The DeGray Fund. My dad needed someone like Nick on his staff, and he’d always said he wanted to keep his company in the family.

  Murphy walked over to stand beside me. “You remind me of my Lilly. It only took me one date to know she was the one for me. My son? Met his wife and married her six weeks later. They’re happily married to this day.” He glanced over at Nick, then back at me. “We Kenzy men don’t fool around when the right woman comes along.”

  “No, we don’t,” Nick said, looking down at me, his eyes filled with affection. “Which is why, when you’re ready, I’d love for you to be my wife, for us to raise your baby as our baby.”

  My love for Nick swelled in my chest, and I realized, that even though I felt it, I’d never said the words. So I did. “I love you, too, you know.”

  “I know.” He pulled me into his arms. “I see it in your eyes. I hear it in your voice. I feel it in your touch.”

  I hugged him tight, feeling blessed to have found such a wonderful man.

  “Now that that’s settled,” my dad said, “let’s set a date.”

  “No,” I told him firmly. “Not until after the baby’s born. Not until Nick sees what life will be like with a newborn and he’s sure he wants to take on a new baby and a wife at the same time.

  “I will,” he said quietly.

  Time would tell.

  Nick

  Four months later

  “What’s all this?” Leigh asked, looking toward the dining room as she walked over to give me a kiss. Since the summer, we’d been splitting our time between her dad’s house, my granddad’s house, and my apartment. Tonight I wanted her all to myself, so we were spending the night in the city.

  I swiveled around and pulled her body to mine.
“How was your day?” Turned out Hollis and Hamilton knew an exceptional employee when they interviewed one. Rather than accepting Leigh’s resignation before she’d even started, they’d offered to modify her job to include only local travel when absolutely necessary. After the baby was born, she’d be job-sharing with another woman who was currently on maternity leave.

  Leigh smiled. “Good. How was yours?”

  Work at The DeGray Group was high-pressure and exhausting, and I loved every minute of it. “Good.” Today, with her father’s blessing, I’d left work early to come home to prepare a special dinner. Not that I’d cooked, mind you. But I’d done everything else: flowers, candles, and non-alcoholic bubbly. I’d set a damn nice table, too, if I did say so myself.

  “You used my mom’s china,” Leigh noticed.

  I’d also used Grandma Lilly’s crystal glasses that Murphy had insisted I take after Leigh had commented on how beautiful they were.

  Speaking of beautiful. “You’re looking exceptionally beautiful today,” in a dark blue pant suit with her hair up in a bun, her feet bare, and her toenails painted a pretty peach color.

  She set her hands at her low back, stuck out her round belly, and said, “I’m looking exceptionally pregnant today.”

  “Beautifully pregnant.” I compromised, because she was. “How’s our baby girl?” I rubbed her belly. As soon as we’d found out we were having a girl, we’d decided on the name Lilly Rose – Lilly for my grandma, and Rose for Leigh’s mom.

  “She doesn’t like the chicken salad at the deli down the street from my office.”

  For the last month Leigh had been having terrible problems with indigestion.

  “How does she feel about chicken piccata from La Mondas?”

  “Oh.” Leigh smiled. “We love chicken piccata from La Mondas!” She walked into the dining room. “But why so fancy? What’s the occasion?”

  The doorbell rang.

  I paid the delivery man and carried dinner to the table.

  “The occasion is,” I began unpacking the box, “I love you.” While that was true, it wasn’t the only reason I’d planned a special dinner.