Ouch! That certainly got him where he lived. But there was nothing Jack could do about growing up on the wrong side of the docks, or being the offspring of a long line of brawny, uneducated dockworkers.
“Sorry,” Daisy amended quickly, realizing she had both insulted him and hurt his feelings. “But that’s how my adopted parents, Charlotte and Richard, are going to feel about my hooking up with you. I guarantee you, the confrontation with them won’t be pleasant.”
Jack had already figured as much, and braced himself for the familial maelstrom to come. “It likely won’t be pleasant with Tom, either,” Jack added with a warning glance.
Daisy looked down at her toes. “In any case—” Daisy’s voice became not just petulant but overly emotional “—I don’t want anyone ruining this pregnancy for either of us with predictions of doom and gloom about what kind of parents we’re going to make.” She looked up at him earnestly. “It’s too special, too new.”
Jack nodded, in that respect knowing exactly how his wife felt. “For me, too,” he said quietly. Because although Daisy’s pregnancy had been unexpected and unplanned, it had also brought joy to Jack’s life, and, as he adjusted to the idea of becoming a father, under these less-than-ideal circumstances, hope for the future unlike anything he had ever experienced. “All right, we won’t tell anyone until we both feel the time is right,” Jack promised.
“Thanks.” Relief shining on her face, Daisy stood on tiptoe and pressed a quick, casual kiss to his cheek. Together, they headed up to the executive suites.
Tom was waiting for them in his office. To Jack’s relief, Tom seemed genuinely happy and relieved to see them both. “I’m glad you’re back, Daisy,” he told her in a cordial tone as he ushered Daisy to one of the two armchairs flanking the sofa in the corner. Tom took a place on the sofa closest to Daisy, leaving Jack to the chair at the far end of the coffee table. “I was really worried about you.”
“Yeah.” Daisy sighed, morphing into the smart-ass she became whenever she felt threatened. And Tom, and his ability to hurt her, threatened her, Jack noted as the hair on the back of his neck prickled, the way it always did before a business meeting totally broke down.
“Nothing like having a wild cannon on the loose,” Daisy continued, giving Tom a vaguely reassuring wink, “but you don’t need to worry. Because I am not going to tell anyone outside the family that you’re my father.”
That was news to Jack. Daisy hadn’t said anything of the kind to him! Furthermore, he was surprised she would agree to that, given all she had gone through these past five years to uncover the truth about her real identity.
Oblivious of the impending danger, Tom shot Jack a grateful look, giving Jack credit where none was due. “I think that’s wise,” Tom said, pleased.
Daisy’s smile broadened as she bounced to her feet and circled the coffee table to where Jack was seated. She eased behind Jack and put her hands on his shoulders. “I am however going to tell everyone under the sun that I’m now married to Jack here.”
Tom stared at them in stunned amazement. He looked at Jack and demanded grimly, “Is this a joke?”
Jack swore virulently to himself and wished once again he hadn’t gotten himself into such a mess. Wondering if Tom was going to haul off and punch him out again, and how Daisy would react if Tom did, Jack said calmly, “It’s not a joke.”
“Why?” Tom narrowed his eyes. “Is she—”
Daisy came out from behind Jack’s chair and did a princesslike pirouette and curtsy for both men. “You’ll be relieved to know I am as wild and reckless as ever, but otherwise, as you can see, quite fine.”
A muscle working in his cheek, Jack’s mentor glared at him. “Damn it, Jack! I told you to find her, not—”
“Make an honest woman of me?” Daisy interjected when Tom had sense enough to censor himself.
Daisy shrugged and continued to pace as dramatically as if she were onstage in a Broadway play. “I know what you mean.” She flattened a hand across her breasts and uttered a divalike sigh. “I tried to convince Jack it wasn’t necessary to put a ring on my finger, that I had no reputation to speak of, save that of being very wild, reckless and unpredictable. And that just because he’s slept with me didn’t mean he had to marry me for heaven’s sake! But in some ways—” Daisy paused to pat Jack’s cheek and give him an exaggeratedly affectionate look, before continuing her soliloquy “—Jack here is very old-fashioned. And he assured me this was for the best, so I said okay, I’d give the holy state of matrimony a shot. I mean, what else am I going to do besides take pictures of stuff? Which is, by the way, contrary to popular opinion, something I never plan to give up. What else would I do, anyway? Go back and enroll in an eighth college to try and get an undergraduate degree in something I’ll never use anyway?”
Jack was relieved to note the more Daisy acted out, the more Tom, an experienced father, calmed down. Tom shot Jack a thoughtful look. “It’s not like you, Jack, to be so impulsive,” he said.
Looking frustrated that her attempt to drive Tom to losing his temper completely wasn’t working, Daisy dropped into Jack’s lap. “Guess I inspire him,” she said in a low, vampy voice. “Or maybe—” Daisy ran a caressing hand across Jack’s chest in an attempt to further aggravate her biological father “—my little hubby is just a wild and crazy kind of guy and never knew it until now.”
Tom sighed, clearly perplexed. Meanwhile, in an attempt to limit the damage before this situation completely disintegrated, Jack discreetly tried to lift Daisy off his lap, and found, to his increasing consternation, she would not budge. And instead settled her bottom even more cozily into his lap, which in turn created another problem. The kind that necessitated she stay on his lap rather than get up and reveal the tightness at the front of Jack’s slacks.
Tom looked at Jack, blissfully unaware of Jack’s helpless arousal. “You’re sure,” Tom said heavily, “there isn’t anything else that I should know about this?”
Promising himself that Daisy was going to pay for her antics later, Jack kept his promise to Daisy and said nothing about her pregnancy. Although, he had to admit to himself pragmatically, it probably would have made him look better in his boss’s eyes if he had confessed the pregnancy. At least then, Daisy and Jack’s impetuous actions would have made some sense.
“Well,” Tom continued reluctantly, looking from one to another and back to Jack again, “if you’re not going to have the marriage annulled—”
Jack said firmly, sure of this much, “We’re not.”
Tom looked at both of them. Speaking more to Daisy than to Jack, Tom continued in a lecturing, paternal tone, “Then I expect you to make a concerted effort to stay married.”
Well, that was something the Deveraux and Templeton families agreed upon, Jack noted. That marriage should be for life.
Daisy, however, clearly could not have agreed less as she rolled her eyes and vaulted off Jack’s lap once again. “Spoken like a true father.” Daisy glared at Tom and began to pace the CEO’s office once again. “The only thing is, you have, by your own volition, never been a father to me, Mr. Deveraux.”
Despite Daisy’s angry reaction, Tom kept his cool. “Which brings me to the next very important point,” he said, standing and crossing to where his biological daughter stood. “I want to remedy that, Daisy. Which is why I called Gabe a few minutes ago and asked him to arrange for you to have a DNA test at Charleston General Hospital this afternoon. I had one weeks ago, and my results are already back. All you have to do is go to the lab at the hospital—they’re expecting you. They’ll draw some blood, and we should know definitely if you are my child in a matter of weeks.” Tom paused, reading the wariness and uncertainty on Daisy’s face as easily as Jack did. “This is just a formality, Daisy,” Tom explained gently, looking at that point very much like a father to Daisy, “but a very necessary one. After all the lies, well…” Tom paused and compressed his lips together. “You understand why I want us both to be sure you a
re indeed my child.”
Jack was fairly certain he saw tears glimmering in Daisy’s eyes before she determinedly blinked them away. “And then what?” Daisy asked contentiously, moving away from Tom yet again.
“For starters,” Tom said, resisting what Jack could see was the natural urge to take Daisy in his arms and comfort her as a father would. Instead, he leaned against the front of the desk. “I think we should get to know each other,” Tom continued optimistically. “And you should become a member of our family.”
Jack wondered if Daisy knew how lucky she was to be getting the offer of entry into the Deveraux world. Because, despite the problems Tom and Grace had suffered over the years, due to his infidelity and their eventual divorce, the Deveraux were a warm and loving and genuinely caring family. One of the most grounded and truly compassionate and mutually supportive that Jack knew. He would have given anything to have an offer like that. And it had nothing to do with the money and privilege they enjoyed. But rather the love and acceptance they offered each other, the knowledge that if you were a Deveraux you were never alone.
Daisy raked her teeth across her lower lip as she continued to study the man who, under different circumstances, would have been the father who’d loved and reared her. “You really want that?”
Tom’s eyes shone with a mixture of regret and hope. “Yes—at least privately, I think that’s the right thing for us to do. Don’t you?”
“Right now I’m really not sure what I want,” Daisy said quietly, looking—to Jack’s mind, anyway—dangerously subdued. “But I will have that DNA test. Just to put your mind at ease.”
“And maybe later this evening the three of us could have dinner,” Tom said pleasantly.
Abruptly, Daisy’s expression became closed and unreadable once again. “I don’t think so,” she said, her voice more chilly than polite. “I have to get my stuff out of my brother Connor’s place.” She threw Tom a look meant to provoke. “Now that I’m married to your company counsel, I’m going to be moving in with him.”
“YOU WERE KIND OF ROUGH on him, weren’t you?” Jack said as soon as the elevator doors closed and the two of them were alone.
Daisy swallowed and tried not to think how handsome and relaxed Jack looked in his cream-colored knit shirt and tan slacks. Or that he was not just the father of the baby she was going to have, but her husband. Suddenly, everything was moving way too fast for her and she leaned against the opposite wall as the elevator continued its short ride to the lobby.
For years, she’d dreamed about finding her real parents.
But the prospect of being a Deveraux…. And yet not really being a Deveraux—at least not to the public at large—was depressing.
She had known going into this that she might experience a less-than-warm welcome from the two parents who had given her over to others to raise, but it still hurt, feeling as if she was once again being rejected and abandoned, albeit all so carefully and nicely this time.
“Would it have hurt you to have dinner with Tom tonight?” Jack continued, playing the role of Tom Deveraux’s trusted legal counsel and all-around henchman yet again.
Daisy wasn’t going to let herself feel guilty about that, even if Jack was looking at her as if she should. Her biological father had pushed her away yet again, after first beckoning her near. Now it was her turn to do the same to Tom. “What I said was the truth,” Daisy said stoically as the elevator stopped at the ground floor and the doors slid open. She preceded Jack through the exit. “I do need to get my stuff out of Connor’s. And if we hurry—” Daisy checked her watch “—we can do it before he gets home for the evening.”
Jack hurried to get there first and hold the door for her. “What about telling your family?” he asked as she breezed past.
Daisy dug for her sunglasses in the bottom of her purse, and slid them over her eyes. “That can wait.”
His sandy hair gleaming gold in the afternoon sunlight, Jack followed Daisy across the parking lot to her spiffed-up sedan. “You’re sure?”
Daisy waited while Jack unlocked the passenger side. “Of that? Very.”
As Jack opened the door, a blast of heat came out at them. They stood back, waiting for the temperature inside the car to subside a little before getting in.
Deciding the car was cool enough to get into, Daisy tossed her purse onto the middle of the front seat and climbed in. “Do you think he’s going to forgive you?”
Jack climbed in behind the wheel. “Who?” he asked as he fit the key into the ignition.
“Tom,” Daisy replied as she tried to get her lap belt on without burning her hand on the hot metal. As Jack started the car, hot air streamed out of the AC vents and they both lowered their windows. “I saw the way he looked at you when we told him about us,” Daisy continued as Jack began to back out of the space. “He was really disappointed in both of us for getting married, but especially you. Although I suppose marrying me has to be better on some level than just using me and walking away.”
Jack hit the brakes so hard, she bounced against the seat. He turned to face her, expression grim. “I didn’t just screw you, Daisy. We made love.”
Daisy understood why Jack wanted to make it seem romantic, in retrospect—she did, too. What they had done was a lot easier to accept that way. But she knew how sordidly the encounter had begun, she knew how angry and disillusioned and in need of some comfort she had been. She knew their baby hadn’t been created out of love. Which she supposed was another great irony, since their baby’s mother hadn’t been conceived in love, either.
“Call it what you want.” Daisy sighed. “The end result is the same.” Because of their mutual impetuousness, in nine months they were going to have a baby. And they had to deal with that, openly and honestly, as they tried to figure out their future and the finances involved in having and supporting a child. “Tom’s initial reaction to our elopement was fury.”
“So?” Jack appeared to be concentrating on the downtown-Charleston traffic.
“So is he going to fire you?”
Jack gripped the steering wheel with both hands. “I don’t know.”
Even though Jack was doing his best to act as if it didn’t matter to him either way, Daisy could tell how much Jack’s job—and Tom’s approval—meant to him. She knew from things that Amy and her brothers had said that Jack really liked working for Tom and Deveraux-Heyward Shipping. And as much as Daisy would’ve liked to get under Tom Deveraux’s skin and pay him back for the way he had hurt her in the past, she didn’t want to hurt Jack, who had obviously been dragged into this by way of his employment. Which meant she was going to have to create some sort of firewall between the men that separated their business and personal lives.
She looked at Jack, wondering if Jack, who usually seemed to be at least two steps ahead of her in this situation, had already been thinking that way.
Before she could stop herself, Daisy turned to Jack with cheerful abandon. “In that sense, I suppose marrying me was a good insurance policy on your part.” She spoke as if she fully applauded his highly political maneuvering behind the scenes. “Tom can’t fire you now that you’re my husband. That’d be akin to throwing us both out on the street. Although—” Daisy stopped, bit her lip, as the next even more disturbing thought occurred to her.
“What?” Jack turned into the outpatient services lot and parked in the first available space.
Daisy whipped off her seat belt and pushed open the passenger door. “If Tom gives me a significant trust, under the community property laws, as my husband you’d be entitled to a chunk of it, too.”
Jack met up with her at the rear of the car and took her hand in his. “That’s assuming we divorced and Tom was foolish enough to have the family’s trust attorneys set the fund up so I could have access to the money in the event of a dissolution of our marriage.” Jack leaned down so he was speaking directly in her ear, carefully emphasizing every word. “I assure you, Daisy, Tom would never be that shortsighted.
” Jack leaned back so she could see into his eyes. His hand tightening on hers, he continued tranquilly, “Even as your husband, I will never be able to touch anything he gives you.”
And Jack looked as if he were not only very much okay with that, but wanted it that way, Daisy noted with relief. But wary of being too quick to trust and getting burned again, Daisy countered just as knowledgeably, “That’s probably true—his attorneys would protect both me and Tom on that score. But they can’t control everything. For instance, if we stayed married after the baby was born, you could certainly enjoy the benefits of all that money.”
“I didn’t marry you because you were once an heiress and could conceivably be so again, if Tom decides to settle some money on you, or Richard and Charlotte reverse their decision to disinherit you and give you renewed access to Templeton-family funds,” Jack said hotly. “And what do you mean if we stayed married after the baby’s born? I thought that was a given. I thought we agreed how important it is for us not to desert our baby.”
Being so close to him was suddenly overwhelming. Daisy withdrew her hand from his and edged away from him so she was walking even closer to the cars. “We can be good parents to our child without remaining yoked to each other for the rest of our lives.” Daisy couldn’t think that far ahead! She just wanted a husband for the transition, while she gave birth and got used to being a parent and settled in. She just wanted her baby to have a name, to be legitimate, with no question about where or from whom he or she came.
“Ask any kid of divorced parents if that’s true. Ask Amy, Chase, Gabe and Mitch. They know what it’s like to have their parents split.”
Daisy slanted Jack a curious look. Taken aback by the unaccustomed emotion in his voice, she slowed her steps to his, wanting to hear what he had to say about this. “I’m gathering by the way you’re speaking you were witness to that?”
The Heiress Page 10
