Son of Scandal

by Dani Wade

  A flash of fever heated his bare skin.

  But as he watched the sun flirt with her as she slept, the panic lurking in the background simply wouldn’t go away. What had he been thinking?

  Well, he hadn’t been.

  He urgently needed coffee; it would be a welcome distraction. He eased from the bed, careful not to rouse Ivy, reminding himself that she must be exhausted. She’d spent the last week working her full-time job with him, then helping her sister out with the charity ball. Then she’d spent all day Saturday preparing for the event, and Saturday night splitting the hostessing duties.

  She had every right to be tired...and to sleep in.

  Leaving her asleep had nothing to do with not wanting to face her...not wanting to tell her this could absolutely not go any further than it already had.

  As he headed to the kitchen, he heard the faint noise of his phone vibrating against the foyer table. Instinctively he made a detour for it. One glance at the display told him his executive VP was on the other end of the line—and weekend calls were definitely not his thing. Paxton’s senses geared up for whatever emergency was coming his way.

  “What’s up, Mike?”

  “Where the heck have you been? I’ve been calling since 5:00 a.m.”

  Paxton clenched his jaw. “I’m here now,” he said.

  “We’ve got a problem,” Mike said, ignoring his tight tone. “Remember how we took a chance on not replacing the old super engine?”

  Paxton groaned. His manufacturing plant in Virginia had been a buyout that they were in the process of refurbishing and upgrading. He’d had a tough time convincing his grandmother, who was still chairwoman of the board, that it was a worthwhile endeavor. This could be a major setback.

  Mike went on. “Yep. It blew during the night. I’m gonna need some help out here.”

  Which meant catching the first flight out to Virginia ASAP. Paxton would need to be on site to formulate his plan for the repairs or replacement, while still keeping the plant functioning. He signed off, then sighed. Not a good morning for this. The only thing he wanted was coffee, and the chance to figure out what he needed to say to the woman whom he’d had the most inappropriate skin-to-skin contact with ever in his life.

  Well, maybe not the most...but he didn’t want to think about the past mistake that made him believe the present situation could end in doom, too.

  Knowing he needed to get a move on, Paxton headed upstairs to the master suite to shower and then pack his bag. He felt a moment of relief when he remembered how he’d rushed Ivy into one of the downstairs bedrooms last night because he couldn’t wait to get her undressed, and because that was simply his MO with women.

  At least he wouldn’t be haunted by memories of the passion they’d shared every night when he would lie down in his own bed.

  He quickly finished dressing, then threw some clothes into a duffel bag. A few days at the plant in Virginia, then he and Ivy could have a nice long talk about what had happened between them last night. And what should happen between them now. Paxton had his future mapped out to a T. And his family was fully behind him. Marrying his assistant was not in his life plan.

  Paxton hoped Ivy was on the same wavelength.

  On his way out, he paused in the shadowy doorway of the downstairs bedroom. Ivy still slept, oblivious to his dilemma. He felt the urge to crawl back into that sun-kissed space beside her. He even took a single step forward.

  But duty called.

  His phone started vibrating in his pocket, warning him time was of the essence. In a quick scrawl, he wrote a note, letting Ivy know that he’d had to run, but she could call the car to take her home. He’d be back soon...and they would talk then.

  Still he carried the memories of her sun-warmed skin and everything they’d done to each other in the dark of night as he rode to the airport, paced the VIP Lounge and then boarded the first standby flight he could get for Virginia. He thought a few times about texting her...but it just seemed like such an impersonal, lousy thing to do.

  Maybe after a few days away, they could both gain some perspective on what they wanted, how they could return to their steady, professional relationship. Right? He rubbed his palm over his face. Hell, what if this blew up in his face big time?

  He remembered the sun glinting off her loose mane of golden hair this morning. Why had she been hiding it in a severe ponytail all this time? Oh, he knew. His buttoned-up executive admin was the utmost professional. Hair always pulled back. Business suits, but only with skirts. He’d always been grateful that she didn’t cover up the smooth curve of her calves with dress pants. Instead she accentuated it by wearing smart, sexy heels.

  He gulped the last of his hot, black coffee as the plane began to descend.

  Of course, he’d been careful to only look when she was walking away from him. Still she’d caught him looking a time or two. Just like he’d found her doing the same. And even though there’d been definite sparks in the air every time they’d locked gazes in the office, neither of them had been willing to break the status quo. Until last night.

  They’d been playing with fire, not realizing just when it would blow up.

  Paxton forced himself to pick up his bag from the luggage carousel, and then headed outside to flag down a taxi. Mike had his hands full right now, so Paxton had told him not to worry about sending a car. As he settled into the back seat, he read the half dozen text messages waiting for him from Mike. Each one was worse than the next. Paxton may have gotten his start in industry through his family name and his grandmother’s owning the umbrella conglomerate, but his diverse interests, determination and leadership skills had earned him the success he enjoyed today as the CEO of an international shipping parts manufacturer...with his eye on running the entire conglomerate one day.

  So why was his mind on the woman who was still asleep in his house, instead of the major issues awaiting him at the factory?

  Two

  Two months later...

  “Paxton. You there, big brother?”

  Paxton snapped to attention to find Sierra frowning at him. She had every right. He’d stepped in to take her to the obstetrician today, toddler in tow, while her husband was out of town. He should be present in mind and body, but thoughts of Ivy and all that had happened since his return home yesterday kept distracting him.

  Marshalling his powers of concentration, he stepped out of the car and circled around to free his niece from her car seat in the back.

  Just when he’d thought he and Ivy would be okay, that their professional life would move forward just as he’d wanted it to, she’d sent him her resignation via email. It had arrived while he’d been on the plane home, so it had been the first thing to catch his eye when he’d landed.

  “So, what kept you away so long?” his sister asked.

  “I was only supposed to be gone a few days. A week, tops.” The reality had been a nightmare. “One mechanical problem led to another, then another. At one point we actually had to shut down production for over twenty-four hours.”

  “I bet Grandmother was thrilled,” Sierra said with a conspiratorial smile.

  Oh, she’d been none too happy to hear it, reminding him she wasn’t cutting him any slack just because he was her grandson. He still had to justify every expense and setback.

  At least it had distracted him from thoughts of Ivy. And as the days rolled into weeks, neither of them had mentioned their night together, even though they spoke on the phone almost every day and emailed even more than that. Their conversations had been strictly business, and Paxton had been perfectly happy with that.

  He’d thought Ivy had been, too.

  By the time he’d made it back to his house and dropped his luggage in the master suite, Paxton had convinced himself her resignation was for the best. Obviously she hadn’t wanted to face him in person. He could understand that. The
ir night together had been a bigger mistake on his part. As her boss, he bore the weight of responsibility and should be grateful she hadn’t accused him of sexual harassment, despite their intimacy being mutual. He should probably reach out with a severance package to keep her from bearing any burdens while she looked for another job. Would she accept? Or was she angry that he’d stuck strictly to business all this time?

  Still he couldn’t stop thinking about her. A woman he should be grateful was gone.

  He needed his head examined.

  “You must be living on another planet today. Did you leave your brain in Virginia?” his sister demanded, her normally calm demeanor showing strain as she pulled her daughter from his arms.

  Paxton took a deep breath, trying to regain his equilibrium. “I just have a lot on my mind.”

  Sierra led the way across the parking lot, toward the office building. “Just so long as it’s work and not a woman. Grandmother would have a fit if you didn’t keep your priorities straight.”

  The bitterness in her voice immediately caught Paxton’s attention. He stared at her in surprise.

  His family members were founders and high-ranking business leaders of Savannah society. They’d been taught to marry well, aim high and value family over all else. He’d grown up looking forward to starting one of his own, and he’d been groomed to marry the woman who would best enhance his professional and personal profile. Just like his sisters, who’d chosen their husbands from elite Savannah families.

  That was the plan—one that didn’t include Ivy. Yet he’d wanted her since he’d first laid eyes on her. And nothing had prepared him for the ecstasy of actually having her.

  Except, according to the map he’d laid out for his life, he couldn’t keep her. He’d stepped out of his comfort zone in the name of romance and knew it was a mistake.

  But that wasn’t something you said to a woman over the phone.

  “What?” Sierra demanded.

  Her sharp tone had him looking closer. Paxton couldn’t miss the strain in his sister’s expression. Some people might attribute it to the fatigue of her being in the second trimester of pregnancy while taking care of his very active niece, but Paxton knew better. The tight muscles around her eyes and tart tone weren’t normal for her.

  He slowed her down with a hand on her arm, easing her over to one side of the hallway outside of the doctor’s office. His niece had gotten sleepy, laying her heavy head on her mom’s shoulder.

  “Are you okay?” he asked in a quiet tone, pulling himself forcibly back to the here and now. “What’s up?”

  As if realizing just how much she’d revealed, Sierra glanced away. But Paxton didn’t miss the rapid blinking of her eyes against the sudden tears. “Nothing. It’s probably just the hormones.”

  While that could definitely play a part, his big-brother instincts told him something more was going on. “Is everything okay?” He thought back over her words. “Is there a problem between you and Jason?”

  “I wouldn’t know,” she sniffed, then reached up to stroke her sleepy daughter’s hair. “He’s always at work. Though I guess that’s what I married him for...right?”

  She turned back to him after only a few steps. “Take it from me, Paxton,” she said in a low tone. “Just because the whole business-before-pleasure thing worked for our parents and grandparents doesn’t mean it’s the wonderful life they told us it would be. Marrying for money is just as complicated as marrying for love.”

  Then she quickly changed the subject. “Let’s check in,” she said, almost too nonchalantly. He knew she was trying to hide from him as she reached for the door.

  He’d never known her to keep secrets, but her stoic facade worried him.

  Following Sierra and his niece into the doctor’s waiting room, Paxton felt that familiar surge of protectiveness that he often got by just hanging out with his siblings. They’d always been close. Add in the gaggle of girl children his sisters had given birth to, and Paxton found himself to be a hands-on uncle. His grandmother often prophesied that Paxton would be the first to give the family a male heir, something he definitely looked forward to. But until then he would protect and love the women in his life as much as possible.

  If he only knew what Sierra needed protecting from...

  “Here,” he said, reaching out for his niece, “let me take her while you sign in.”

  He snuggled the droopy toddler in his arms and stood behind his sister as the receptionist opened the window that separated her from the waiting room. Small talk floated around him as Sierra signed the check-in list; he wasn’t really paying attention. He glanced over the women’s heads, farther into the little box the receptionist occupied. Behind her, at the exit window, a woman in scrubs was speaking to a patient who was checking out. At first Paxton couldn’t see her. Then she turned toward him.

  Ivy.

  Without a thought, Paxton leaned closer to the opening. He knew he shouldn’t eavesdrop, but it was if his hearing was tuned in specifically to her voice. Luckily for him, his hearing was excellent.

  “Here are your vitamins,” the woman in scrubs said.

  Ivy had a nervous expression as she glanced down at the box on the checkout counter. Paxton’s gaze followed. He swallowed hard. The words prenatal vitamins seemed to jump out at him.

  The woman continued, oblivious to the audience behind her. “And this is a prescription for nausea medicine. Take it when you need it, which will hopefully only be for another month or so. You and the baby need good nutrition right now, so we don’t want you too sick to eat. Got it?”

  Ivy nodded, swallowing hard enough for Paxton to see her throat working. Nausea? Prenatal vitamins? Baby? The words floated through the fog clouding his brain. He blinked, trying to process. He knew what the words meant, but he couldn’t get the significance to register.

  Just then, Ivy looked across the tiny room and spotted him. Her eyes went wide. Her lips parted, but no words came out. He didn’t need any. Panic spread across her features like a wave, putting the final piece in the puzzle.

  A baby. They’d made a baby?

  No sooner had he blinked than she was gone. He couldn’t see which way she went through the receptionist’s window.

  “Paxton, what is wrong with you today?” his sister complained.

  He glanced down to realize the way he was leaning had her blocked in against the check-in counter. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “Here.”

  He handed his niece over to her mother, then murmured, “I’ll be right back.”

  Remembering the office layout from the few times he’d been there before, Paxton knew the exit let out on the other side of the clinic, but then patients had to come back up the front hallway to get to the parking lot. He rushed back out the way they’d come in, hoping to intercept Ivy. Not that he knew what he’d say. His only thought was to find her. Now.

  The hallway was empty. He backtracked down the hall to the adjoining one, but still didn’t see her. Maybe she’d already gotten outside? But he couldn’t find her in the parking lot either. He cursed himself as he realized he wasn’t even sure what kind of car she drove. After a good five minutes—and one missed call and exasperated text from his sister—Paxton returned to the doctor’s waiting room.

  But Ivy’s panicked features remained foremost in his mind.

  * * *

  “Paxton McLemore saw me at the obstetrician’s office.”

  The heart-pounding panic as Ivy spoke the words to her sisters was almost overwhelming. She forced herself to breathe in and out slowly. This intense upset couldn’t be good for the child she carried. Even if it was justified. She’d spent a month second-guessing herself, only to have all her plans smashed with one doctor’s visit.

  “What happened?” Jasmine asked, her voice hushed with expectation. Jasmine was the epitome of the older sister, fulfilling her role with wisdom and th
e same matter-of-fact tone she used on unruly clients in her event planning business.

  “I looked up from the counter, and there he stood. Watching me.” Ivy swallowed. So tall. With a baby sleeping in his arms, he’d almost seemed like her fantasies come to life. Only it wasn’t their child. And the realization that she was truly seeing Paxton in that moment had been more like a nightmare.

  One that mocked the dreams of happily-ever-after she’d been rudely woken from that fateful morning, two months ago.

  “He recognized you, I hope?” Auntie asked, her frown deepening the wrinkles on her beloved face.

  Oh, he had. “Yes. There was recognition in his eyes. Then shock.” Her finger traced the interlocking pattern of the tiger wood on the dining room table.

  Ivy had watched Paxton’s gaze drop to the box on the counter with the paralyzing realization of what was to come...and knowing she could do nothing to stop it. Luckily the nurse had wrapped things up quickly.

  She imagined her disappearing act would not go over well with Paxton once he got over the shock. “I panicked. I didn’t know what to do, what to say.” She looked around, shame burning her cheeks. “So I just grabbed my stuff and ran.”

  A little giggle sounded to her left. Ivy cast a quick glance at Willow. “What’s so funny?” she demanded.

  Willow pressed her lips together, but it didn’t help since her amusement was evident to everyone. Their middle sister had always marched to her own drum. “Well, all I can imagine is you running down the hall, pushing people out of the way, like one of those victims in a thriller movie. In heels, no less.” She giggled again. “Not your normal modus operandi.”

  Auntie started to chuckle, then Jasmine. In less than sixty seconds, they were all giggling until the tears started. Even Ivy. She drew in a deep breath. Man, that felt good. No one could make her laugh when she needed it like her sisters.

  “Maybe he won’t care?” Willow asked, sober once more. How could she sound skeptical and hopeful at the same time?