The Billionaire's Baby Arrangement

by Charlene Sands

  Brooke walked him downstairs and handed him his jacket. He slung it over his shoulder and strode to the door. “See you tomorrow night.”

  She nodded and glanced at his mouth.

  He inhaled a sharp breath. “Keep looking at me that way and I’ll never get out of here.”

  Heat rushed up her neck to warm her face. He was smooth, a charmer to the umpteenth degree, but he’d shown her a different side of himself last night and she feared she’d never get enough of him.

  He took her into his arms and brushed a light kiss to her lips. Then he groaned and pulled her up tight against him, deepening the kiss. It lasted a gloriously long time and when they finally broke apart, both of them were breathing heavily.

  “You make a man want to stay home nights,” he whispered with a rasp, before turning and exiting the house.

  She stood on the porch and watched him get into his car and pull out of the driveway. Then she entered the house and leaned back against the closed doorway. “Damn you, Nick. Don’t say those things to me.”

  Nine

  “So how long have you been teaching English at the high school?” Brooke asked Molly as they sat at the bed-and-breakfast’s newly spruced up dining room table. It was tea for two with her aunt’s Royal Albert English Chintz china teacups looking wonderful on the lacy rose tablecloth she’d laid out.

  Molly juggled having Leah on her lap and sipping chamomile tea without the slightest pause. It was clear her friend knew a thing or two about children. She was glad she was finally able to have Molly over for an early brunch.

  “This is my fifth year at the high school. I started teaching English and History a year after Adam was born and it’s working out very well. We have our summers together and during the school season I’m home early. My husband works out of the house a few days a week, so he’s Mr. Part-time Mom.”

  Brooke chuckled. “Is that what you call him?”

  “Yeah, I do. John’s got a great sense of humor. We laugh about it all the time.”

  “It’s important to have someone to laugh with. Dan never laughed much. It’s a wonder the two of us ever got together.”

  Molly reached for her hand. “You’re doing the right thing by moving on. He wasn’t right for you.”

  “Don’t I know it! He’ll be here in a couple of hours and I have no idea what I’m going to say to him.”

  “Just listen to what he says,” Molly offered, touching her hand. “Let him speak his mind, but don’t give him an answer. Tell him you have to think things over and then do that. There’s no rush. You don’t have to make any decisions quickly.”

  Having Molly here soothed her fragile nerves. She’d given her good advice and made her wish they hadn’t lost touch with each other in the past. “Thanks, Molly. I will do that. It’s the sane, rational thing to do.” Then Brooke thought about it some more, shaking her head. “It’s hard to be objective. He’s such a snake.”

  A quick smile brought light to Molly’s amber eyes. “Take the high road. Only call him a snake behind his back.”

  “I’ll try,” Brooke said, arching her brow as she pondered. “It won’t be easy.”

  Brooke rose from her seat to arrange little round lemon pastries she’d made earlier this morning on a plate. She set out a bowl with fresh strawberries and raspberries topped with a special cream she’d prepared and a platter of sliced cranberry bread. “I’m practicing on you. Tell me what you think.”

  Molly tasted each one of the dishes and nodded. “Excellent. You get an A. The lemon tarts are amazing. When did you have time to do all this?”

  “Last night and early this morning. Nick was gone, so I had free time.”

  Molly grinned. “Nick?”

  “I mean, I usually cook him breakfast and dinner and the house was empty so I took advantage of the time to whip these up.”

  “Okay, I get it. He wasn’t home to occupy your time, right?” Molly shot her a wicked smile. “What’s up with the two of you?”

  “He’s a fr—” she began, then quickly stopped herself from calling him a friend. The “F” word wasn’t a label she wanted between the two of them. “He and I have an arrangement. And no, it’s not what you’re thinking.”

  “Oh, so you’re not sleeping with him? Too bad. Remember when he won Desert Island Dream in high school? The girls got to pick the one guy they’d like to be stranded on a desert island with.”

  “I remember,” Brooke said with a groan. The girls wouldn’t have been disappointed.

  When Leah began to fidget too much, Molly set her down in her playpen and gave her a toy. “There you go.”

  Molly lifted up to stare into Brooke’s eyes. “You had a thing for him and now you’re living under his roof.”

  “Just temporarily. We’ll be moving out soon. And he’ll be off to Monte Carlo. He’s got a house there and can’t wait to leave the country.”

  Molly continued to stare at her, narrowing her eyes. “You’re in love with him.”

  “I’ve got enough problems at the moment, thank you very much.”

  Molly spoke with gentle regard. “Doesn’t change the fact.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” Brooke admitted, lowering her tea cup slowly to confess her innermost feelings. Maybe it would help to discuss this with someone. “It just happened. I had my eyes wide open, knowing it was impossible.”

  “To coin a cliché, love is blind. You can’t help who you love.”

  “But you can be smart about it, can’t you?”

  Amusement sparked in Molly’s eyes when she shook her head. “I don’t think so. Intellect has very little to do with matters of the heart. Nick must be more than a hot hunk loaded with money for you to fall for him. The girl I knew needed more than eye candy.” Molly was forever astute and that’s why they’d gotten along in high school.

  “Nick always let me see a side of him he rarely showed anyone else,” Brooke said soberly. “I told myself over and over it was ridiculous and impossible, but there he was, opening up to me and being so good with Leah.” Tears welled up in her eyes as she glanced at her baby sucking on her fist. Brooke had dressed her for company and she looked so pretty in her frilly flowered dress and bloomers. “Leah adores him.”

  She sniffed and halted her feelings of melancholy. “It’s not going to work with him, Molly. My life is so complicated right now. I just want to have it all simple again.”

  Brooke and Molly talked for half an hour more and before her friend left she gave her a big comforting hug. “Call me anytime, Brooke.”

  “Don’t worry, I will.”

  Brooke braced herself for Dan’s visit. She didn’t want this, any of it. She scooped Leah up in her arms and thought about running away, but it was just a wishful dream. She had to face him today and there wasn’t much she could do about it. She sat down on the sofa and rocked Leah, giving her a bottle of formula and hoping she’d be sound asleep when Dan came by.

  Less than an hour later, she heard a knock and rushed to the door to keep Leah from waking up. “Come in,” she said the second she saw Dan.

  He entered the house. His hair was groomed, his face shaven, and he had on the same type of business casual clothes he always wore; khaki pants and a brown Polo shirt. She looked at him and felt nothing but disdain. At one time she had thought he was handsome, with his angular lines and sharp facial features. “Let’s have a seat in the parlor.”

  She moved ahead of him and sat down in a wing chair that faced the sofa. Dan took the sofa and stared at her. He leaned forward. “You look good, Brooke. Pretty as always.”

  She refrained from rolling her eyes. “How did you know where we were?”

  Dan glanced around the parlor taking it all in with assessing eyes as if doing mental calculations. “There’s a lot of antiques in here. Are all the rooms furnished like this? How old is this place? “

  “Old,” she replied, refusing more information. “Please answer my question.”

  “Okay, fine, Brooke. I’ve been s
earching for you for months. I realized I’d made a drastic mistake. I hired a private detective to find you only to get a report last week that you’d had a baby and moved back to Napa.”

  “How touching,” Brooke said. Was she supposed to cave just because he paid someone to find her?

  Dan’s face reddened and he looked ready to wrestle a bear.

  She hoisted her chin.

  “Look,” he began. “Let’s try to be civil to each other. We have a daughter.”

  Brooke hated hearing it. She hated that Leah had a drop of his blood and that he did have a legal right to see her. “Her name is Leah Marie and she’s a Hamilton.”

  Dan’s lips twisted. “She’s a Hartley, Brooke, whether you want to accept it or not. Now, can I see her?”

  Brooke’s stomach quaked. “Fine, but please don’t wake her.” Brooke rose and took him into the downstairs bedroom where she’d set up a little crib she’d recently purchased on sale. Slowly, this place was becoming a home to them.

  She led him into the bedroom and Dan gazed down at his daughter sleeping in the crib. He stood there a few minutes, just watching her as Brooke studied him. Something odd happened. Dan’s expression didn’t soften. It didn’t change at all. His gaze didn’t flow over Leah with loving adoration. Maybe it was because she was a stranger to him, or because he’d already lost one child, but Brooke had expected something more from Dan than the stony face staring down at the crib. Granted, he’d seen her several days ago, but that was for only a few seconds.

  After half a minute, Brooke cleared her throat and Dan got the message. He exited the room with Brooke steps behind him.

  “I remember you talking about this place,” he said as they reentered the parlor and took their seats again. “Now it’s all yours. What will you do with it?”

  Brooke was taken aback by his question. Didn’t he want to know about Leah? When was she born? How was the delivery? What is she like?

  “I’m converting the house into a bed-and-breakfast. I have to support myself somehow.”

  “How many rooms does it have?”

  “Eight, but six upstairs that I’ll use for patrons.”

  “You were always good at homemaking, Brooke.”

  “Funny, but I never heard that from you before.”

  Dan gritted his teeth, making the words flowing from his mouth seem implausible. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”

  She wasn’t sure that he really was. “That’s not enough. Being sorry won’t make up for anything. You abandoned me.”

  “I didn’t know you were having a child. You should have told me.”

  “You shouldn’t have gotten another woman pregnant and left me the way you did. You just packed up and moved out the same day I’d learned about it. I was in shock for months and picking up the pieces. I don’t owe you anything, Dan.”

  “We can be a family again.”

  “That’s not possible.”

  “Anything’s possible, Brooke. Give us a second chance.”

  Leah cried out and Brooke prayed she’d fall back asleep, but the cries continued and she excused herself. “I have to get her. She’s probably hungry and wet.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “No. Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll bring her in.”

  And Brooke walked out of the parlor on shaking legs.

  Nick stepped onto Brooke’s porch, a gift for Leah in one hand, another for Brooke in his pocket. He’d made it back to Napa after his late morning meeting with customers for Carlino Wines in good time and decided to stop by Brooke’s house first before heading home this afternoon.

  He told himself that Brooke might need a hand putting the furniture back in place after painting for the past two days, but in truth he was anxious to give the girls the gifts he’d picked up in San Francisco.

  He heard a man speaking to Brooke from inside the house. The somber tone of his voice had an edge to it that Nick didn’t like. He pushed through the front door, without bothering to knock, and turned toward the parlor.

  “Don’t be unreasonable, Brooke,” the man said. As he held Leah in his arms, the baby’s lips turned down in a pout, tears ready to spill from her eyes. “Things could go so much easier if you agree to give us a second chance. I have rights and if you don’t think so, I might have to take you to court.”

  Distressed, Brooke reached for her baby. “Give her to me, Dan. She’s upset.”

  The man backed away from Brooke, refusing her the baby. “She needs to know her father.”

  “She doesn’t know you and she’s scared.” Brooke said, panicked.

  Nick stepped farther into the room, his emotions roiling. Seeing Leah in that man’s arms and Brooke clearly agitated infuriated him. “Leah’s not a pawn in this. Give her back the baby.”

  Both Brooke and Dan seemed startled to see him standing in the room.

  “Who the hell are you?” Dan asked, raising his voice even more. He turned to Brooke, “Who is he and why is he issuing orders about my daughter?”

  “Nick Carlino. He’s been like a father to Leah, the only one she’s ever known. She should be so lucky.”

  Nick’s gaze darted straight to Brooke and from the firm resolve on her face he knew she meant what she said.

  “But he’s not her father. I am.”

  The roughness of his voice carried across the room and Leah’s face turned red as she burst into tears. The jerk was too selfish to realize he’d upset the baby.

  “Give her to me,” Brooke said quietly between gritted teeth.

  “I will in a minute.” Dan tried to calm Leah but it wasn’t working, her cries grew louder.

  Nick set Leah’s gift down and strode up to Dan, his anger barely contained. Immediately, Leah turned toward him and reached out her wobbly arms, her sobs quieting down. Nick put his hands on Leah’s waist, her body twisting toward him. He stared at Dan, his jaw tensing. “Let go of her.”

  The man glanced at Brooke then sighed. He released his hold on Leah. She flowed into Nick’s arms. Her baby scent wafted up as she hung on tight, attaching herself to him. He held her for a few long moments and stroked her hair, before handing her back to Brooke. He eyed Leah’s father with contempt and spoke with deadly calm. “Don’t come in here and threaten them ever again.”

  “Nick, I can handle this,” Brooke said, intervening. He didn’t think so, but he backed off for her sake. “Dan was just leaving. We’ve said all we have to say for now.”

  “I’m not giving up, Brooke,” Dan said. “We can make this work. I want you both back.”

  Brooke squeezed her eyes shut. “And I told you, that’s not going to happen. Just go, Dan.”

  Dan shot a quick glance at Leah, then his gaze went to Brooke. “This isn’t over.” He sent Nick a hard look and strode out of the house with Nick at his heels. He waited until the guy was off the property before returning to Brooke, who had collapsed on the sofa with tears streaming down her face.

  Nick stood staring at Brooke, his anger dissipating but other emotions clicking in with full force. When he’d walked into the house seeing another man holding Leah, claiming he wanted Brooke and Leah back in his life, surging waves of anger and jealousy destroyed his good mood. He’d never experienced anything like it, this fierce instinct to protect and comfort.

  Brooke’s defiant words from just minutes ago stuck in his head.

  He’s been like a father to Leah, the only one she’s ever known.

  Was that true? Was he getting that close to both Brooke and Leah? Or was Brooke just using those tactics with her ex to drive her point home, that Dan hadn’t been any kind of father to Leah? He had walked out on Brooke and never looked back until what? What had happened to make him seek Brooke out?

  She should be so lucky.

  That comment had touched Nick in ways he didn’t want to think about. Brooke couldn’t possibly look at him as a role model for her child. Could she? Could she think of him in a way that he’d never thought of himself, as a
man who could be a good father?

  The simple they both wanted was getting real complicated.

  His best bet would be to walk away now, but Nick knew he couldn’t without helping Brooke one more time. He wouldn’t leave until he was sure she and Leah would have the life they deserved. Dan had some rights to see his daughter, he was Leah’s biological father, but Nick wouldn’t stand by and watch the jerk hurt either of them.

  He could be a hard-ass when necessary and this was the time and place for that.

  Later that night, Nick watched as Brooke sat cross-legged on the floor opposite Leah in his living room, playing with the music box he’d brought home for the baby. Brooke opened the ornate silver box and a miniature ballerina twirled around to a classical tune that had Leah mesmerized. She kept trying to touch the ballerina and Brooke caught her hand each time. “Let the pretty ballerina dance,” she said in a soft sweet voice.

  Leah bobbed up and down with excitement from her sitting position and gurgled with laughter at the music box.

  “She loves it, Nick.”

  Nick leaned forward in his chair, bracing elbows on knees, seeing Brooke finally calmed down from today’s debacle. “Looks like it.”

  “Did you pick it out yourself?”

  “I did. The ballerina reminded me of Leah.”

  Brooke’s gaze met his. “You’re an old softy.”

  “Just don’t tell anyone.”

  Brooke glanced away for a few moments then turned to face him with regret. “I’m sorry you had to witness that today.”

  “I’m not. I seriously hope you don’t plan on letting that guy back into your life.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Brooke said, closing the music box. “But what choice do I have if he takes me to court?”

  “He won’t do that.” Nick had connections and already had someone on it. He’d managed to memorize Dan Hartley’s license plate and coupled with the information he’d gathered from conversations with Brooke, he’d know a lot more about him and his motives very soon. “How much are you willing to give him as far as Leah goes?”