Mommy Heiress (Accidental Dads #2)

by Linda Randall Wisdom

“Stan and Denise are very nice,” she commented as he started driving down the road.

  “I’ve always thought so.” He turned on the radio to a golden oldies station, keeping the volume low. The warm sound of the Association filled the cab. Cori hummed along.

  “Hard as this is to believe, my life isn’t all filled with parties and charity events,” she murmured. “Sometimes a bunch of us would go out to dinner, then to a club for the evening.”

  “Your idea of a quiet night isn’t anything like the quiet nights around here.” Ben had a quick flash of Cori wearing one of those formfitting dresses that adhered to the body like an adhesive bandage and were short enough to show off those spectacular legs of hers. Black, he decided. And the club would have those glittering balls overhead, sending sparklers of light down on her. Just like in the movies.

  “But the club scene isn’t what it used to be,” she chattered on, oblivious to his wandering thoughts that heated up with each mental picture of her dancing wildly.

  Pretty soon he had her dancing only with him on a deserted dance floor. By then, her formfitting dress had mysteriously disappeared and she wore a bra, panties, thigh-high stockings and high heels he’d once seen in the lingerie catalog Ella had brought to the clinic one day when she was shopping for a bridal shower gift for a niece. Except they looked even better on Cori than they had on the model.

  “Most go to the clubs to be seen. I go to dance,” Cori went on. “I love to dance.”

  Ben shifted uneasily and his hands gripped the steering wheel even tighter as his fantasy Cori seemed to prance across his vision. “Yeah,” he said without even listening to her.

  What the hell was wrong with him? He was in his thirties. A settled man. A professional. He even remembered being a reasonably sane man.

  Until Cori drove headlong into his life and turned it completely upside down. And this was only after a week.

  “It is amazing, isn’t it?” Her question intruded on his thoughts.

  “What? That you like to dance?”

  Cori had half turned in the seat so she could face him. The frown on her face told him he’d given her the wrong answer.

  “Dance? I was talking about how clear your sky is out here.” There was a trace of impatience in her voice. “Back home, smog can be so bad at times the stars look more like smudges. While out here—” she tipped her head back to look up and out the passenger door “—they’re like diamonds.”

  He smiled at her whispered reverence. “I guess living out here and seeing it every night, we take it for granted.”

  “But you shouldn’t,” she insisted, leaning forward, sending a soft wave of her perfume in his direction. “This is so natural, so beautiful.”

  “You’re the one who’s beautiful.”

  His murmured declaration brought a wave of color to her cheeks. The more he saw her reaction to compliments the more he wondered just how she got pregnant. Or didn’t a man look beyond the lovely face and deep blue eyes?

  “Out here, you see me as beautiful. Back home, I’d look like any other woman.”

  Ben pulled over to the side of the road and shut the engine off. He turned, resting his arm along the back of the seat.

  “You could be among hundreds of beautiful women and you’d still stand out.”

  “Why, Doctor, you sound positively poetic.”

  He moved closer. “Maybe because you make me think poetic.”

  Her lips curved upward. “Really?”

  “Not completely, but it sounds better than if I told you what I had really been thinking.” Unable to resist, he reached out and fingered her hair, savoring the silky strands slipping between his fingers.

  “Tell me what you were really thinking, Ben,” she whispered.

  He leaned forward a bit more. “You, dancing.”

  She smiled as she leaned in his direction a fraction. “Just dancing?”

  He moved that last needed fraction. “Oh, a lot more than dancing.” His mouth captured hers in a kiss that left nothing to the imagination. He grasped her shoulders, pulling her up against him. Her breasts pressed warmly against his chest. Her breath was heated against his mouth. But what he noticed most was her reaction. She opened her mouth to his thrusting tongue as naturally as if they had been lovers countless times. She softened against him, twining her arms around his neck.

  “Ben,” she breathed the sound of his name into his mouth.

  “Hm?” He grew engrossed with the shape of her ear and the gold-nugget-shaped earring in her lobe.

  Cori settled herself more firmly in his arms. “Did anyone ever tell you your kisses should be considered illegal?”

  “No.” He nipped the lobe, smiling at her exhalation.

  “They are. They could be used as a secret weapon.” She ran a hand along his denim-covered thigh, feeling the muscles flex under her touch.

  He drew in a sharp breath when her hand started wandering a little north, but stopped short of where he wanted it to be. “You are a wicked woman, Cori Peyton.”

  “You make me feel wicked.” She almost purred, nibbling her way along his jawline.

  Having more than a few wicked thoughts of his own, Ben gripped her chin and raised her face to his. Kissing her soon proved not to be enough. He thought of the bed back at the cottage. Even the small bed he used in the clinic. Either would be fine. He even started wondering if he had any blankets in the back of the truck. He slipped a hand under the hem of her T-shirt and upward until he reached the lace edge of her bra. He edged a finger underneath the fabric, feeling the satiny skin of her breast. He realized how sensitive her breast was when she flinched.

  He murmured reassuring words as he lightly traced the rounded perimeter. He felt her rapid heartbeat under his fingertips, delighted that it was his touch that caused it.

  The knock on the driver’s window brought Ben coldly back to earth.

  “Any problems in there, Doc?” a male voice growled.

  Cori moaned, reaching between them to pull her T-shirt back down.

  “Hi, Andy,” Ben greeted the town’s sheriff in a false voice. “No, everything’s fine. We’re just having a talk.”

  The broad grin on the man’s face told him he knew just what the conversation consisted of.

  “Well, maybe you’ll want to move along before someone else stops by,” he suggested, tapping his flashlight against the top of the truck as he walked back to his vehicle.

  “I don’t believe this,” Cori moaned, burying her face in her hands.

  Ben laughed. He hadn’t realized she could look so appealing when she was embarrassed.

  “I wouldn’t worry. Andy’s seen a lot during his years as sheriff.”

  “But it could have been worse!”

  “Hopefully, we’re adult enough to hold off.” Ben noticed the sheriff’s vehicle didn’t move until he started up his truck and pulled onto the road. Andy then blinked his headlights twice and drove off in the opposite direction.

  Cori was silent during the rest of the drive back to the cottage. Ben was also, except his thoughts were centered on continuing what they had started. His body throbbed with arousal as he thought of the soft bed awaiting them.

  He parked the truck near the clinic’s rear door and hopped out. He noticed Cori seemed a little stiff as they walked toward the cottage, but he put it down to shock at being caught by the town sheriff.

  “Andy won’t tell anyone what he saw, Cori,” he told her as he unlocked the door and followed her inside.

  She spun around. “It’s not that.” She took a deep breath. “I know that what happened in the truck meant something should happen here, but it can’t.”

  His arousal took a nosedive.

  “It can’t?”

  She shook her head. “I’m pregnant by another man!”

  “A man who means nothing to you.”

  She winced at his statement. “A mistake I wish I hadn’t made. All I’m saying is I’m strongly attracted to you and it’s obvious you’re attra
cted to me, but I don’t think it would be a good idea.”

  Ben stared at her so long she began to fidget.

  “Say something!”

  He stepped forward and dropped his hands on her shoulders. Before she could ask what he planned to do, he pressed a light kiss against her forehead.

  “You know, having someone want to protect my reputation is new to me,” he murmured. “But it’s entirely unnecessary. Believe me, our time will come, Cori. Good night.”

  A wide-eyed Cori watched Ben walk out, making sure the door lock was engaged.

  “Whoever said country boys were slow hadn’t met Ben Cooper.”

  Chapter Seven

  Vivian’s Boutique

  “I don’t believe this.” Cori looked up after she leafed through the pitifully thin yellow-page section of the telephone book.

  “Don’t believe what?” Ella asked absently as she alphabetized the files.

  “There is no health club in the area. What do you do for exercise?”

  The older woman chuckled at the question. “Guess we figure walking’s good enough exercise. I read walking’s the up-and-coming popular exercise. Don’t they do that in L.A. since they’re all so health conscious?” Ella said with tongue planted firmly in her cheek.

  Cori shook her head. “You don’t walk in L.A., unless of course you’re on a designated walking trail or using the track at a health club. Except here, you don’t have either!”

  Ella patted her comfortable bulk. “Sorry, dear, I guess none of us ever felt the need for one of those exercise places.”

  “Well, I do.” She hopped onto the desk, swinging her legs back and forth, her heels knocking against the side. “I’ve gained six pounds.”

  Ella looked at Cori over the top of her glasses. “Where?

  She frowned. “Where what?”

  “Where did you gain the six pounds? Because I can’t see one extra ounce on that scrawny body of yours.”

  “I do not have a scrawny body! As for where, I’ve gained everywhere!” She looked down and pinched her still-nonexistent stomach. “It’s a good thing my friend Dina sent me clothes with looser waistbands or I’d be out of luck!”

  Cori smoothed down the full legs to her turquoise cotton shorts. Topped with a bright sunny yellow tank top and a lightweight fuchsia jacket on top of that, she was a living modern painting. As if that wasn’t enough, she wore a turquoise crushed hat and swung between her fingers a pair of fuchsia framed sunglasses by one of the temples.

  She frowned at the beam scale standing like a silver sentry in the hall by the door. “Do you think that monstrosity could be wrong?”

  “Honey, if I could look like you I wouldn’t worry about a measly six pounds, and, no, the scale isn’t wrong. As for you needing looser clothes, those boxes your friend sent you kept people talking for a week while they tried to figure out what arrived here for you.”

  Cori couldn’t think about the delivery of her clothing without a few pangs of sorrow. Her friend had also included a hastily written note that there had been no problem in her picking up the clothing Cori requested since Sean was in Europe for a few weeks. So much for her father missing her, she’d thought sadly.

  Her shoulders lifted and fell as she took a deep breath. “I’m positive I felt the baby move today.”

  “Much too soon,” Ella told her. “It was probably gas.”

  “Gas? That’s a lovely thought.” She picked up the file folder marked with her name. “I guess it’s a good thing my dad didn’t cut off my health insurance. It’s embarrassing enough to go through these examinations without Ben getting paid for it.” She suddenly frowned. “Somehow that didn’t come out quite right.”

  Ella plucked the folder out of Cori’s hands. “That is not for your eyes, missy. And you’re right, that didn’t come out right. Makes it sound as if the doc’s getting paid for more than checking on that little one you’re carrying.”

  “It’s my file!” she protested.

  “It’s the clinic’s file.” Ella pulled open the file cabinet and dropped the folder inside. She turned to the younger woman with a trace of impatience. “Don’t you have something to do?”

  “Not since my day of helping out at Vivian’s dress shop. You know, if I had my car, none of us would have to worry about these episodes happening.”

  “Lots of people survive without a car,” Ella countered.

  “Not when you’re from California. Why, out there, living without a car is like—” she tapped her forefinger against her chin “—well, it’s like the Pacific Ocean going dry. Impossible!”

  The older woman shook her head. “You are something else. Now why can’t you go back to Vivian’s?”

  “I don’t think you want to know.” Cori picked up file folders and started putting them in alphabetical order.

  Ella took the files out of her hand. “I can’t believe you’ve insulted every major person in this town.”

  “I didn’t insult the woman!” Cori argued. “I merely pointed out a few helpful hints to her. I don’t care if she is the mayor’s wife. That color and style were much too young for her. Not to mention trying to wiggle into something that was obviously two sizes too small! I don’t know how she managed to get into it. I have a spandex dress I love and getting into it was a battle when I was thinner.” Cori held one hand out in front of her. “I miss the manicures, but even if I had the extra money, I’m afraid Valerie would make sure I ended up with a few less fingers.”

  “She hasn’t been happy since Ben stopped seeing her.”

  Cori stopped twirling her sunglasses and dropped them on the desktop. She looked down, pretending a great deal of interest in a medical journal lying by her hip.

  “Were they very close?” she asked, as if she couldn’t care less about the answer.

  “They’ve dated off and on since he came back to take over his father’s practice.” Ella was busy filing that day’s patients’ records.

  “Did they ever…?” She waved a hand back and forth in silent communication.

  “Not that anyone knows.” Ella looked up. “Why are you asking? Are you interested in the doc?”

  Cori straightened up. “I’m just curious, that’s all.”

  The older woman smiled knowingly. “Uh-huh.”

  “She is pretty.” She picked up a pen and began doodling on a pad of paper.

  “So she thinks.” Ella shook her head. A restless Cori was a sight to behold. “You never did tell me what happened at Vivian’s.”

  Cori made a face. “You probably heard at least twenty versions of the story before I even walked out of the store, so mine shouldn’t make any difference.”

  “Yes, I did, but I haven’t heard yours.”

  “Vivian asked if I would be willing to help out in her shop this morning since it was the first day for her annual spring sale,” she recited. “If there was a job I couldn’t screw up, it was working with clothing, so I accepted. I suggested Vivian take the dress out of the window and put in a gorgeous peach suit she had just gotten in. We added a straw boater with a peach scarf tied around the brim and a taupe purse. The new display looked great. Quite a few people stopped to watch.”

  “What does the suit in the window have to do with Margaret?” Ella asked, by now growing impatient.

  “That’s what brought her into the shop,” she explained. “She saw the suit in the window and decided she wanted it. Pale peach, Ella!”

  “Go on.”

  “I was in the back unpacking a box for Vivian when I heard the woman come in and ask to see the suit in a size twelve.” Cori rolled her eyes. “I could see her and went out and suggested she might like to try another color that would be more flattering to her complexion.”

  Ella sighed and shook her head as if she knew what was coming next.

  “Not only is her complexion completely wrong for peach, but her hair is the strangest color. She claims it’s red and it’s not even close,” Cori confided. “It’s this sickly pinkish orange
, and even if she’d worn the suit in her true size, she would have looked like a joke. The style was also meant for a much younger woman.”

  “Margaret prides herself on being eternally thirty-nine and a size twelve.”

  “She has to be sixty if a day and at least a size sixteen. She told me I didn’t know what I was talking about and Vivian tried to referee.”

  Ella shook her head. “What you’re saying is you interfered again?”

  “Vivian told me I have no sales sense. Perhaps I’d do better at buying than selling, but I do feel I know what looks good on a person.” Cori shook her head. “Let me tell, you, Ella, a peach sausage is not a pretty sight!”

  Ella bit down on her lower lip, but it didn’t help. The laughter just rolled out.

  Cori laughed, too. “You should have seen it.”

  When Ben stepped into the office, he found the two women laughing so hard tears were streaming down their cheeks. Cori lay back on the desktop, her legs kicking upward while Ella was sprawled in a chair, her body jiggling. He stood in the doorway a moment, taking in the scene before him.

  He knew there could be only one reason for their hilarity. If only he hadn’t been out on a house call.

  “What did she do this time?”

  Cori turned. For a moment, Ben was blinded by her dazzling smile.

  “Did you have fun?”

  “No, but I’d say you did. What did the two of you do? Go over to the dentist’s office for a whiff of laughing gas?” He set his medical bag on the desktop as he nonchalantly brushed her off his desk. “You sit in the chair, not on my desk. Or did you eat funny food at Myrna’s?”

  Cori opened her mouth to reply, then looked at Ella and burst into laughter again.

  Ella could only wave her hands helplessly.

  Ben shook his head. “I’m glad to see the two of you are enjoying yourselves. Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

  “Cori met Margaret Holloway,” Ella managed to get out.

  He thought of the mayor’s wife. Officious, full-of-herself Margaret. He knew he didn’t want to hear it, but he couldn’t stop asking, anyway.

  “In what capacity?”

  “As a sausage!” Cori’s reply ended on another wave of laughter. She held her sides. “She was the sausage!”