The Executive's Decision ~The Sweetened Version~ (The Keller Family Series)

by Marie, Bernadette

  Mary Ellen stopped her in the doorway, a wide and welcoming smile on her lips. “Regan, it’s wonderful to see you.”

  Seeing her there put finality to her resignation; she hadn’t expected to feel let down. “Mary Ellen, you’re back?”

  “Yes, he called immediately and begged me back. The man can’t do anything on his own.” She looked her over as she held her daughter in her arms. “How are you?”

  “I’ll be fine.” Regan glanced around the office and then at the baby, wanting desperately to reach for her and touch her. “I guess I’ll go.”

  Mary Ellen handed her a piece of paper with an address and driving instructions on it. “You need to go here to get your check.”

  “Can’t they send it to me?”

  “No. You have to sign for it,” she said. “I know he added a severance package with it. He feels bad that you had to deal with Mr. Hamilton.”

  Regan nodded. She didn’t want charity, but it certainly would help her start her new life wherever she landed.

  “Thank you.” She tucked the paper into her purse.

  “Regan, take care.” Mary Ellen smiled.

  Regan wished she could smile back, but like her brother had done to her earlier, she simply turned and left the office.

  Regan began her drive out of Nashville. She followed the directions Mary Ellen gave her. She was sure she’d taken a wrong turn. The city began to disappear, and acres of land sprawled around her.

  Soon she saw the name of the road she was to turn down. It was unpaved and lined with oak trees. Regan’s jaw dropped when she came to the end of the road. In the clearing stood a house, the most beautiful house she’d ever seen. It was white with decorative shutters and a porch that wrapped around it. On the front porch sat two white rockers gently rocking in the breeze.

  She looked down at the piece of paper Mary Ellen had given her. The address matched. Surely there had been some mistake.

  She parked the car in front of the house and looked around. Flowers bloomed in pots on the stairs. A carpet lay at the door welcoming visitors. The front door was open, and she tapped on the screen door.

  There was no answer, but someone must be home.

  “Hello. Hello, is there anyone here?” She yelled into the house.

  “You can go in and look around if you’d like,” a man said behind her.

  After a moment’s panic, she recognized Zach’s voice. She turned to see him leaning against her car.

  Her breath caught in her lungs. He looked wonderful standing there so casually. The sunlight shone on his sandy hair, giving him a golden aura. A smile settled on his perfect mouth. Oh, how she’d missed his mouth.

  “Mary Ellen said I needed to come and get my check. I had to sign for it. I thought I was in the wrong place.” They started toward the steps at the same time.

  “She was right.” He pulled the envelope from his pocket and handed it to her, his fingers lingering on hers.

  “I’m sorry I lost you the contract.” She averted her gaze to the ground.

  “I guess it’s good that you quit before I could fire you, then.” His words made her eyes shift to his, but he was still smiling.

  “She said you had a severance package for me, but really that wasn’t necessary.”

  He shrugged. “You may change your mind when you see it.” He nodded to the paper. “You still have to sign for it.”

  “Oh, right.” She opened the envelope. It didn’t contain a check. She held up the piece of paper. “What is this?”

  “Read it.”

  “Zach…”

  “It’s not a check, but it does require a signature,” he said, climbing the next step closer to her, but she fought the urge to touch him.

  The paper shook in her fingers. It was the ultimate contract, and its sentiment squeezed at her heart until she thought it would burst. “It’s a marriage license.”

  “You’re right.” He tucked his hand in his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet ring box. The ache in her chest moved to her throat and stole her air. “I’ve been carrying this with me since L.A.

  He opened the box. An enormous solitaire ring caught the sunlight, and Regan gasped.

  “Zach, I don’t understand.” She lifted her gaze from the glimmering ring and looked into his calm green eyes that smiled lovingly back at her.

  “What’s not to understand?” He took the ring and slid it onto her finger. “Regan, will you marry me?”

  She refrained from jerking her hand back. It didn’t make sense. She was soiled. She was damaged goods. There was nothing for him to still want from her, yet he looked at her with those loving eyes. Her knees went weak. “Why would you want to marry me?”

  “Do you want a list?”

  “But I wasn’t honest with you. I’ve had a baby with another man.” Cold sweat broke on her brow, and she brushed her hand across her forehead. “I lost you the biggest contract of your career. How could you want to marry me?”

  “Because I love you, Regan. Those things are part of you.” He moved his hand to her cheek. “You gave a family a child they couldn’t have. What a wonderful gift. You gambled at love and lost. Everyone does.”

  “But Zach…”

  “If you want your daughter back, we can contact my lawyer. It’s only been a year. Isn’t there some kind of clause?” She shook her head adamantly. Oh God, what was he offering? Regan looked away from him for a moment and gave into the contemplation. Her daughter. Her little girl. She could hold her, see her, love her as she had since she’d felt her first flutter of life in her belly. Then the reality of it forced its way back into her delusion. Her baby was better off without her. Her daughter had a family, and to strip them of that relationship would be a horrible burden to live with. It would be better to live without love again than to hurt a child.

  Zach’s thumb rubbed against her cheek, and she looked back at him. He smiled down at her. “You are very special to me, and I’m not going to let you run away from me.”

  He pulled her in a quick move to the end of the step so they were eye to eye. Just as quickly he wrapped his arm around her waist and pressed their bodies together. The speed of his movement made her gasp, but then the warmth of his lips was on hers and no matter how much she wanted to be sensible and break free, she couldn’t. His lips were as intoxicating as his green eyes, his scent, his voice, and his touch. If she’d walked away, she’d regret it forever. It would kill her little by little to say goodbye to him forever.

  When Zach pulled away, she opened her eyes and watched him. His lips parted into a grin that sent a river of warmth through her. He brushed her lips with his thumb. “You’re going to marry me and live in this house I bought for you.”

  “Excuse me?” A bubble of excitement rose into her chest. She turned her attention back to the house behind her.

  “You heard me. You said you wanted Tennessee sprawling land and two rockers on the porch.”

  “Zach…” She looked around her through moist eyes. There were two rocking chairs on the porch, which wrapped around the house. The trees that lined the road rustled in the wind. It was just as she’d described to him. This was just what she’d wanted.

  “Regan, if you turn me down again, I’ll tie you to the spindle.”

  She settled her gaze over him. She did love him. Running away wasn’t going to change that.

  “So I’m fired?” She finally smiled.

  “As my assistant.” His hand was in her hair, and she moved in even closer to him, wanting to feel him near. “But I need a partner, in life and in business.

  “And you want me to be that partner?” She rested her forehead against his. “If you’ll accept the position.” He slid his other hand to her waist, and her body relaxed against his as she gave into her need for him.

  “I guess we’ll have to go inside for negotiations. I’ll have some executive decisions to make.” She ran her hands up his chest. “So I can walk, or you can carry me inside.”

  He laughed and h
oisted her to his waist. She wrapped her legs around him and circled her arms around his neck.

  “You’ll be signing that contract,” he urged as he carried her past the rockers and through the front door of the house built on sprawling Tennessee land. His arms held her tightly and his hands caressed her back.

  She kissed him, and warmth filled every part of her. “We simply can’t do business without the contract. Partner.”

  Enjoy an excerpt from the next book

  in the

  Keller Family series.

  Chapter One

  A

  t the end of the long, tree-lined drive stood the house, welcoming her just as the owner would. It wasn’t the first time Madeline Carson had made the trip out to Regan and Zach Benson’s house, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it would be the last.

  She batted back the tears that stung her eyes. No, she wasn’t going to cry for herself. She was there to celebrate the birth of Regan’s baby boy. Tyler Alan Benson. A child welcomed into the world by two people who were so very much in love.

  Oh, she was adult enough to admit she was jealous. Who wouldn’t be? Zach doted on his wife of three years. A baby would only enhance the perfect relationship that her ex-sister-in-law had with her husband.

  There had been a time when she’d felt that optimism about a man, love, and her family.

  The first tear fell.

  It had been five years since she and Carlos Keller, Regan’s brother, had divorced. Five years, and she still mourned it every day.

  After her marriage to Carlos ended, there was his best friend, Matt. He’d been there to console her in her time of need. That need had led to a relationship, and they’d married only six months after her divorce had been finalized. The marriage had ended the twenty-year friendship between Matt and Carlos, but who could blame them? Neither Carlos nor Madeline could really pinpoint what went wrong to end their marriage. It simply had fallen apart. There were money issues, of course. Then the kids came along, and the money was even tighter as Carlos finished graduate school and she worked two jobs.

  The very things that were to have made their family stronger had actually pulled it apart.

  Matt hadn’t meant any harm when he had come to console her. He was playing the part of a friend to each of them. Things simply had changed between them, and they’d fallen in love. Or so she’d thought at the time.

  Madeline pulled to the side of the driveway and wiped at her eyes.

  No, it hadn’t been love. It had been comfort. Matt needed to take care of someone, and she was willing to let him take care of her. He’d let her stay home and raise her children. She couldn’t have asked for more.

  Now even that had fallen apart.

  Madeline glanced at the messenger bag on the passenger seat. Inside it were the divorce papers that Matt had served her with three days ago.

  So far, she hadn’t had the courage to sign them. She hadn’t even had the courage to discuss it with her children. They would get to that. As soon as Carlos brought them back to her after his week with them, they’d realize Matt had moved out. She’d like to think they’d be a little upset that he was gone, but she knew they wouldn’t.

  Oh, it would hurt for the moment. It would hurt more because they’d know it hurt her, but they were too in love with their father to want another man in their life or hers.

  Sure, Matt had been a good role model and a loving man to them all. He simply wasn’t their father. For the first time in days, she smiled through her tears. Her children loved their father and he loved them.

  She took a few cleansing breaths. Matt’s leaving couldn’t have come at a worse time. Having your husband walk out on you never happened at a convenient time, but she had a bigger battle to face now.

  Madeline put her hand to her chest and looked down at the swells of her breasts against her shirt. She had cancer and she hadn’t told a soul. Sadness filled her body with a heavy fullness, and anger riddled her mind. Madeline had never imagined this would happen to her.

  “Well, now isn’t the time to sob over your sad life,” she said to herself as she pulled down the visor and looked in the mirror. She wiped off the smudged mascara and fixed her hair. “This is Regan’s moment. It’s time to celebrate life.”

  Once she successfully pulled herself together, she started toward the house.

  The chairs on the porch rocked in the breeze. The November air had chilled, but the ground was still dry. That would be changing soon, she thought as she parked the car.

  Madeline looked at the house. It had been Zach’s engagement present to Regan. Or, as Regan referred to it, her bribe to marry him, which had worked in his favor. Over the past three years, Regan had added her touches. In the spring, the flowers would all bloom around the porch and lay out a colorful spread of welcome. As it was, the drive was paved with leaves that had finally given up their homes on the bare branches of the trees that lined the road.

  She climbed from the car and opened the trunk. The large box she’d brought for Regan and Zach sat wrapped in bright yellow paper, reminding her that a new life was just beyond those doors. A cousin to her children, a nephew to her ex-husband, and a blessing to Regan and Zach.

  She lifted the box from the trunk and moved it to her hip. Then she shut the trunk, walked up the front steps, and pushed the doorbell. When she heard it chime just beyond the door, she realized that she’d probably woken the baby.

  Regan pulled open the door and smiled. “Madeline. I’m so glad you were able to come by. Please, come in.” She stood back to let her through.

  “You look wonderful,” she said, but she saw the signs of motherhood streaked across poor Regan’s face. Her eyes were hollow and dark from lack of sleep. The elegant attire worn by the wife of one of Tennessee’s most prominent businessmen had been swapped for a pair of comfy sweat pants and an oversized T-shirt to encompass her swollen breasts. “This is for you and Tyler.” She handed the box to Regan.

  “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “It’s a box of necessities. Diapers. Diaper-rash cream. Nipple cream for the mama.”

  “Thank you,” Regan said on a sigh.

  “Just a few other things I think you can use up. I didn’t buy him any clothes. I figured Zach’s mother would want to do most of that.”

  “You’re right. Audrey will make sure he’s the best-dressed child at the playground. I think she cleaned out the Baby Gap.” She shook her head. “Zach tells her to quit buying him things, he’s only a week old, but she insists.”

  “I’d have to agree. Grandmothers get special rights.”

  “Would you like to see him?” Regan offered.

  “Of course.”

  Regan laced her arm through Madeline’s and escorted her to the living room. Madeline smiled when she saw the bassinet near the sofa with the sleeping baby. Her heart ached a bit with the memory of all of her own children sleeping in it. “Your mother gave you the bassinet?”

  “Yes, she wants everyone to have a chance to sleep in it. Carlos and Arianna were the only two of her own children that didn’t get to.”

  The Keller family was an eclectic mix, Madeline thought. Regan and Arianna had been adopted by the Kellers when Regan was only an infant and Arianna was two years old. Their little brother, Curtis, was the Kellers’ only natural-born child, and he was a year younger than Regan. Carlos had been adopted by Emily and Alan Keller when he was seven, after a car accident had killed his parents.

  When Madeline had given birth to Eduardo, Emily gave her and Carlos the bassinet for their children. Now it was Tyler’s turn. “I guess Clara was the last one to sleep in it,” Madeline reminisced.

  “I can’t believe she’s eleven.”

  “Tell me about it. The boys are both teenagers.” She looked at Regan. “I’m not that old, am I?”

  Regan touched her arm. “Heavens, no.”

  They laughed, but when Tyler stirred, they both stopped and watched.

  “I fed him only fifte
en minutes ago. He should be pretty happy for now. Would you like to hold him?”

  “Oh, Regan, he’s sleeping. Don’t bother him.”

  “Give me a break. You drove forty-five minutes out here to see him. I know you, Madeline. You came to hold the baby.” Regan reached for her son. “He’ll sleep just as fine in your arms as he will in that bassinet.”

  She adjusted the blanket around him as she handed him to Madeline.

  Madeline sat down on the couch with the baby, who cooed against her. “He’s so perfect.”

  “He is, isn’t he?” Regan adjusted into the corner of the couch and relaxed.

  “Eduardo had hair like this.” She smoothed her hand over Tyler’s thick, dark hair. “Christian and Clara were both bald. Remember?” Regan nodded her answer with a yawn. “Time flies.”

  She let him wrap his tiny hand around her finger, and she felt the tug in her heart. It seemed so long ago when Carlos had sat by her side in the hospital and they admired their first baby. “I wonder if his hair will stay dark like yours or if he’ll get his daddy’s light hair.”

  “Hmmm,” was all Regan said. Her head had cocked to the back of the couch, and her eyes had closed. Madeline simply smiled and sat quietly. She’d been there too. It would never cease to amaze her how mothers did it. They could go and go with no sleep and provide the essentials that their babies needed. But when exhaustion took over, it was like running right into a wall.

  The struggles of motherhood were just like the cancer that was taking over her body. In order to survive it, she would have to love herself as she loved her children. She would need to have hope, just as she had when her children became their own people and began to experience new things. And she’d need to remember to take care of herself as she’d neglected to do for the past fifteen years while she doted on her own babies. It would be easier if Carlos were there with her.

  “Well, little man, you’ve been born into one of the most wonderful families in the world. You’ll be well taken care of,” she whispered, kissing him atop the head and wondering if she’d see him grow up.