The Baby Favor

by Andrea Laurence

  Mason straightened up to catch her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face in her neck. The scent of her shampoo was like a welcome home, a reminder that the familiar was once again in his grasp. “I love you, too,” he whispered into her ear. “More than you will ever know.”

  Scarlet pulled away to look down at him. She cradled his face in her hands. “I know.” Then she leaned down to give him a kiss. Her lips were soft and hesitant at first, almost embodying how she felt about everything between them. It didn’t take long, however, for her to give in to the kiss and leave her reservations behind.

  It felt amazing to hold Scarlet, and know that this time he was never going to let her go. She was his, for always. He relished every moment of their embrace after going two long weeks without touching her. He wanted to hold her in his arms and kiss her until they were both out of breath, but he knew they had other things to attend to. They could pick up where they left off tonight. And every night from here on out.

  Finally, reluctantly, he pulled away. Mason stood, taking Scarlet’s hands and pulling her up from her chair with him. Every step they took from here was on the path of their new life together. He couldn’t wait to see what was in store for them.

  “Let’s call Carroll and tell her the good news. I’m sure she’ll immediately start packing to come home.”

  He laughed. “We will, but we have something we need to do first.”

  Scarlet looked up at him with confusion. “What?”

  Mason held up the envelope in his hand. “We have to sign the adoption papers and drop them off at the attorney’s office. It takes forever to process them and get them in front of the judge as it is.” He took her by the hand and led her over to the dining room table. He opened up the envelope, flipping through the legal pages until he reached the one where they both had to sign. He held out a pen to her. “You first.”

  She took it from him, her hand trembling with excitement or nerves, he wasn’t sure which. Gripping the pen, she signed the page, and unlike when she signed the divorce papers, her name was written in her neat cursive penmanship. When she was finished, she handed him the pen and he did the same.

  When he was done signing, he slipped the pages back inside and capped the pen. Turning to look at Scarlet, he noticed she had tears shimmering in her dark eyes. “What’s the matter?” He wasn’t expecting her to cry at a moment like this. Excitement, joy, sure, but not tears.

  “Do you realize that you’ve fulfilled your promise from the day we married?”

  Mason’s brow furrowed. “To love, honor and cherish you until death?”

  “No. You said you’d do anything for me and you did that with Luna. You’ve given me the moon.”

  Epilogue

  Scarlet didn’t recognize the number when the phone rang that afternoon. She was in the midst of preparations for Luna’s second-birthday celebration. The deck had been transformed into a pink extravaganza. Caterers were setting up the food, the cake had been delivered moments ago and guests would be arriving within the hour. Any other day she might’ve been able to identify the number of their adoption attorney’s office.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Hello, Scarlet? This is Peter Vann. Do you have a moment?”

  “Of course. Is something wrong?” Scarlet tried not to let her concern be evident in her voice. She settled down at the dining room table, expecting bad news. Not today, she prayed. Not on her baby’s birthday.

  Luna’s adoption had been finalized months ago, but the way things had ended with Evan taught her that nothing was ever final in that regard. Perhaps one of Rachel’s relatives had come forward to fight for the baby—and more likely, the sizable estate that came along with her.

  “No, nothing is wrong. I’m actually calling because I have some good news you and Mason might be interested to hear. I just received a call from child services.”

  Good news from child services? “Yes?” she pressed.

  “It seems they have taken a little boy into custody and they’re looking for a home to place him in. The mother has terminated her rights, so he’s eligible to be adopted. They contacted us directly because they thought you and Mason might be interested in him.”

  She winced at his words, torn between the fantasy and reality of what this could mean for their family. Both she and Mason were content in just having Luna. “I don’t know, Peter. I told you before that Luna was the exception. I don’t think either of us are willing to chance another adoption scenario after what happened before. It’s too risky.”

  Peter chuckled. “I think you’ll be very interested in this one. He’s two and a half years old, brown hair, brown eyes, in good health, and his name...is Evan.”

  Scarlet’s heart skipped a beat. She couldn’t believe she’d heard the attorney correctly. “Evan? Our Evan?”

  “The very same. If you want him back, he’s yours, Scarlet. They reviewed his history and wanted to give you two the first chance to adopt him before he gets placed elsewhere.”

  She could barely focus on his words as Peter continued to talk. All she needed to know was that her baby boy was coming back to her. Scarlet stood up and placed the phone against her chest to muffle her voice as she shouted, “Mason! Come quick! Evan is coming home.”

  * * * * *

  If you liked this story of a billionaire tamed by the love of the right woman—and baby—pick up these other novels from Andrea Laurence!

  THE PREGNANCY PROPOSITION

  THE BABY PROPOSAL

  THE CEO’S UNEXPECTED CHILD

  HIS LOVER’S LITTLE SECRET

  MORE THAN HE EXPECTED

  Available now from Harlequin Desire!

  ***

  And don’t miss the next

  BILLIONAIRES AND BABIES story

  THE CEO’S NANNY AFFAIR

  by Joss Wood

  Available August 2017!

  ***

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  Keep reading for an excerpt from DOWN HOME COWBOY by Maisey Yates.

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  Read on for a sneak peek of DOWN HOME COWBOY by New York Times bestselling author Maisey Yates.

  When rancher and single dad Cain Donnelly moves to Copper Ridge, Oregon, to make a fresh start with his teenage daughter, the last thing he wants is to risk his heart again. So why can’t he keep his eyes—or his hands—off Alison Davis, the one woman in town guaranteed to complicate his life?

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  Down Home Cowboy

  by Maisey Yates

  “HEY, BO,” CAIN called, looking around the kitchen and living room area for his daughter, who was on the verge of being late for her second week on the job. “Are you ready to go?”

  He heard footsteps hit the bottom landing, followed by a disgusted noise. “Do you have to call me that?”

  “Yes,” he said, keeping his tone and expression serious. “Though I could always go back to the full name. Violet Beauregard the Walking Blueberry.” She’d thought that nod to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was great. Back when she was four and all he’d had to do was smile funny to get her to belly laugh.

  “Pass.”

  “I have to call you at least one horrifying nickname a week, all the better if it slips out in public.”

  “Is there public in Copper Ridge? Because I’ve yet to see it.”

  “Hey, you serve the public as part of your job. And, unless you’re being a bit overdramatic about how challenging your job is, I assume you see more than two people on a given day.”

  “The presence of humanity does not mean the presence of culture.”

  “Chill out, Sylvia Plath. Your commitment to being angry at the world is getting old.” He shook his head, looking at his dark-haired, green-eyed daughter who was now edging closer to being a woman than being that round, rosy-cheeked little girl he still saw in his mind’s eye.

  “Well, you don’t have to bear witness to it today. Lane is giving me a ride into town.”

  Cain frowned. He still hadn’t been in to see Violet at work. In part because she clearly didn’t want him to. But, he had assumed that once she was established and feeling independent she wouldn’t mind if he took her.

  Clearly, she did.

  “Great,” he said, “I have more work to do around here anyway.”

  “The life of a dairy farmer is never dull. Well, no, it’s always dull, it just never stops.” Violet walked over to the couch where she had deposited her purse yesterday and picked it up. “Same with baking pies, I guess.”

  “I have yet to sample any of the pie you make.”

  “I’ll bring some home if there’s any leftover,” she said, working hard to keep from sounding happy. At least, that’s how it seemed to him.

  “Are you ready to go, Violet?” Lane came breezing into the room looking slightly disheveled, Cain’s younger brother Finn close behind her, also looking suspiciously mussed.

  Absolutely no points for guessing what they had just been up to. Though he could see that Violet was oblivious. If she had guessed, she wouldn’t be able to hide her reaction. Which warmed his heart in a way. That his daughter was still pretty innocent about some things. That she was still young in some ways.

  Hard to retain any sort of innocence when your mother abandoned you. And, since he knew all about parental abandonment and how much it screwed with you, he was even more angry that his daughter was going through the same thing.

  Though she was actually a little more well-adjusted than he’d been.

  Sometimes he was almost tempted to take the credit for that.

  “Ready,” Violet responded.

  Even though it was a one-word answer, it lacked the edge usually involved in her responses to him. He supposed being jealous of his brother’s girlfriend was a little bit ridiculous.

  “Have fun,” he said, just because he knew it would irritate her.

  He had lost the power to make her laugh. To make her smile, with any kind of ease. So, he supposed he would just embrace his ability to irritate.

  At least he excelled at that.

  “Wait,” Finn said, walking past him and grabbing Lane around the waist, turning her and kissing her deep.

  It was all Cain could do to keep from groaning audibly. Between his horndog younger brothers and his incredibly happy other brother he felt like sex was being thrown in his face constantly. Except not in a fun way that involved him having it.

  Just him watching other people get it.

  Lane and Violet left, and Finn walked back into the living room. “I’m going to marry that woman,” he said, the self-satisfied grin on his face scraping at Cain’s current irritation. He had a feeling he and Finn had the same smile. But it had been so long since he’d actually smiled it was hard to say.

  “Have you asked her yet?”

  “Not officially. But I’m going to. I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

  “That’s a long time. Trust me. Married years are different than regular years.” He had way too much experience living with somebody who didn’t even like him anymore. Way too much experience walking quietly through his own house so that he could avoid the conversation that needed to be had, or avoid the silence that seemed magnified when the two of them were in the same room.

  He didn’t think Finn would suffer the same fate though. Finn and Lane had known each other for years, and they had been friends before they were a couple. Cain and Kathleen had been stupid and young. He had gotten her pregnant and wanted to do the right thing, instead of doing the kind of thing his father would do.

  All in all, it wasn’t the best foundation for a marriage.

  For a while, they had tried. Both of them. He wasn’t really sure when they had stopped.

  “I hope they are,” Finn said, obnoxiously cheerful. “I hope every year with her feels like five. Because my time with her has been the best of my life.”

  Given the way they had grown up, he really didn’t begrudge Finn his happiness. He was glad for him, in a way. When he wasn’t busy feeling irritated by his celibate status.

  Of course, if he really wanted to do something about it, he could. But for a long time it had suited him to stay unattached in every way possible.

  Though, in fairness to him, figuring out how to conduct a physical relationship while he was raising a teenage girl was pretty tricky. He had to set some kind of example. And casual sex wasn’t exactly the one he was aiming for.

  He figured he had to at least try to be a model of the kind of man he wanted his daughter to be with. In twenty years or so, since he wasn’t in a hurry for her to be with anyone.

  But that good example thing was simple in theory, and not all that enjoyable in practice.

  “Good for you,” he said, sounding more annoyed than he had intended.

  “How’s the barn coming along?”

  Cain was grateful for the change in subject. “It’s coming.”

  “Show me.”

  His brother grabbed his hat off the shelf by the door, and Cain grabbed his own. Strange how this had become somewhat natural. How sharing a space with Finn, Alex and Liam—while annoying on occasion—was just starting to be life.

  He took the steps on the front porch two at a time, inhaling the sharp, clear air. It was late summer, and in Texas about now walking outside would be like getting wrapped in a wet blanket. That was also on fire. He could honestly say he didn’t miss that part of his adopted home state.

  The Oregon coast ran a little cold for his taste, but he had to admit it was still nicer than sweltering. The wind whipped up, filtering through the pine trees and kicking up the smell of wood, hay and horse. If green had a smell, it would be that smell that rode the coastal air across the mountains. Fresh and heavy, all at the same time.

  It was fastest to take a truck out to the old barn on the property, the one that had originally stood near the first house that had been built when their great-grandparents had bought the land. The house was long gone, but the barn still remained, and with all of his near-nonexistent free time Cain had been fashioning the place into a house
for Violet and himself.

  “You know,” Finn said, as they pulled the truck up to the old structure, “you could always hire Jonathan Bear to finish this out.”

  “Are you in a hurry to get us out of the house?” In the month since they’d come to live with Finn, he’d never seemed to mind them being in the house.

  On the ranch in general, yes. But not in the house.

  He shrugged. “It doesn’t make much difference to me. Even if you and Violet aren’t in the house Liam and Alex will be. So Lane and I aren’t going to start engaging in public sex anytime soon. At our house. However, there’s a reason she held on to her cabin.”

  Lane owned the property down by the lake, and even though she was essentially living with Finn, she still kept that property.

  “Well, thank God for that,” Cain said, his tone dry. “I was seriously concerned.”

  He and his brother walked through the still overgrown pathway that led up to the old barn. He had started with structural things. A new roof, replacing siding where it had dilapidated. Recently, he had moved on to the interior. He slid the brand-new door to the side, revealing the gutted, mostly hollow belly of the beast.

  “Wow,” Finn said, stepping deeper into the room. “You’ve done a lot.”

  “New wiring,” Cain said, gesturing broadly. “Insulation, drywall. I need to texture, and then I’m going to work on interior walls. But, yeah, it’s coming along. It will be fine for the two of us for the next couple of years. And when Violet leaves...”

  Unbidden, an image of the beautiful redhead he had seen at the bar last night filtered into his mind’s eye. Yeah, in a couple of years he would have a place to bring a woman like that.

  Not that he couldn’t go back to her place, or get a hotel, but he didn’t want to have to explain his absence to a teenage girl who barely thought of him as human, much less realized he was actually just a guy with a sex drive and everything. Both of them would probably die from the humiliation of that.