Daniel’s mind was immediately a whirl with complete shock at her words. This, from the woman who’d told him she never wanted a baby in the first place? Who’d fought him through the entire surrogacy process?
It was like night and day.
He took a deep breath, wondering how the hell he was going to handle this. “Alyssa…” He spoke lowly, his blue gaze pained. “Things are different now.” Was it terrible that her words swayed him slightly? That he believed the sincerity in her gaze and remembered that she had, indeed, contributed her genes to the child they’d created together.
Now, she wanted to take on the motherly role – to provide for her own child. He should have been rejoicing, and yet all he could think of was Esme’s sleeping form upstairs. Alyssa sauntered over to him, cupping his face so he looked down at her breathtaking visage. “I know you must have been lonely, baby. And I don’t care about anything that happened while I was gone. Let’s just start over – you me and the baby. It will be amazing…what you’ve always longed for, right?”
Looking into her eyes here, now, it was easy to forget all the pain she’d caused him. How she’d left him desolate and broken. How many times during the course of their relationship had Alyssa ever expressed a desire to make things right? To give up all her selfishness and do what was right not for herself, but for them?
This was a golden opportunity.
“Daniel?”
He froze, his stomach churning, at Esme’s low call from the foot of the stairs. Slowly, he turned, taking in her shocked expression at the sight of Alyssa effectively wrapped around him. Her gaze shone with confusion, then hurt, as she looked from him to the buxom beauty in his arms. “Daniel, what’s going on?”
“Oh, you are here.” Alyssa slid from his grip almost immediately, starting toward the nightgown- clad woman. “I thought you might be. Daniel does like to keep his little pet projects close.”
Esme visibly winced at the comment as Alyssa came to a stop before her. “I understand what’s happened here, Esme. I really do. You were here to comfort Daniel when I wasn’t. I was harsh with him. Overly harsh…and I haven’t taken this thing about the baby seriously. But now, I am. I want to be a good mother. I want to do this parenthood…thing. I’m ready.”
“Are you?” Esme inquired almost sharply, her almond eyes narrow as her gaze took on a look of fierce protectiveness that was almost frightening. She lay a hand over her belly firmly, glaring at Alyssa. “That’s a pretty quick turnaround from crushing the man you love and not giving two shits.”
“Esme.” Alyssa’s smile was almost sickly sweet. “I understand how I treated you, and I know I could have handled the situation better. But now, the baby’s coming soon. My baby. I have all the legal rights to the child and I am not about to give them up now. Not when I have a second chance. I thank you, really, from the bottom of my heart, for being here when Daniel needed someone to lean on, but I think I can take it from here.”
Esme just stared at her in complete and utter disbelief, before turning to him, her gorgeous eyes fraught with distress. “Is this what you want, Daniel? Do you want me to leave?”
“I…” Daniel found himself at a loss for words. It seemed like Alyssa was finally ready to be the woman he’d always envisioned she could be, but Esme…Esme had been there for him when no one else had. Only now, as Alyssa spoke, he was beginning to wonder if he hadn’t simply acted out of desperation when he’d latched onto her.
After all, she was supposed to have been simply the surrogate. Alyssa and he had been happy together for three years. Perhaps his feelings had been a little twisted. Alyssa was the mother of his baby. Could he just deny her that now, when she seemed truly ready to make a change? “Esme, if we could be alone. Just for a while.”
The young woman’s lips parted in utter and complete shock as she stared up at him. Then, they narrowed, surprisingly, in anger. “Daniel, you are smarter than this.” Her voice trembled with emotion as un-shed tears glimmered in her eyes. “This woman tore you apart. She left you alone when you needed her most. She’s been manipulating and leading you on for years. And now…you’re just going to take her back? Let her have the baby?”
“It’s her baby.” His words came out more brusque than he would have liked as his defenses shot up. He was, after all, a man who had made billions of his own hard work and determination. He wasn’t used to being questioned – or his decisions doubted. Least of all by Esme, who had always stood by him.
Or so he’d thought. “It’s our baby, Esme. Once upon a time, you told me you never wanted children. You were very insistent. Well, now you’ll have what you want. Your life, your career, without any of the hassles of children.”
His heart in his throat, the rancher watched the light fade from the young woman’s eyes. She turned from him, taking a deep breath as she collected herself. “Well, let me be the first to tell you congratulations in advance, then, Alyssa.” Her voice was strained as she addressed the tan-skinned woman. “I wish you all the happiness in the world with the baby…and with Daniel.”
With that, she wrapped her robe more tightly over her protruding stomach, stepping into a pair of flip flops near the door before grabbing the keys to the car she hadn’t driven in over five months. Then, she slipped through the door, closing it quietly behind her, and leaving the foyer in silence.
Daniel felt something inside him twist with a knife-like pain. He swallowed the almost insurmountable desire to chase after her – to take back what he had said and pull her into his arms. Now, Alyssa was back. He had his baby’s mother to contend with.
“It’s OK, honey.” The Hispanic woman’s touch on his arm was soft and reassuring. “Everything will be alright. The baby will come soon, and then you’ll never have to see her again. Come here, darling.” She pulled him into her warm embrace, kissing his slack mouth a moment before she began to lead him up the stairs – towards the room Esme had vacated only moments earlier.
Daniel felt her absence as acutely as if it were a physical blow. In an instant, he had given up everything he had built with her – all the promises he’d made – and all in hopes that Alyssa had truly changed.
He could only hope he didn’t come to regret the decision he’d made.
**
2 months later
It had to be perfect.
Absolutely perfect.
Esme stirred the chocolate sauce on the stove, being careful not to let it bubble over or burn. She was working on a new dessert, and the sauce was the main event. Sweat trickled over her brow as she struggled to work the spoon dexterously. In the final months of her pregnancy, her joints had unexpectedly swollen somewhat, causing her no small amount of discomfort.
And of course, Daniel was now unavailable to massage away all her aches and pains.
When she thought of him, Esme’s gut clenched and her breath hitched. She would not cry. She hadn’t shed a tear for the man, and she wouldn’t. She was only his surrogate – a vessel for his child, and becoming emotionally involved with the man had been her mistake.
She should have known better.
While Daniel Hartsford was a financial powerhouse, women like Alyssa easily swayed him. They wiggled their way into his insecurities and exploited the hell out of him, and he was far too kind to see it.
He wanted Alyssa – little bean’s biological mother – to be the one woman in his life. The fact was evidenced in how the man had stopped coming to doctor’s appointments altogether. Now, her only company was Alyssa, who tapped away on her new iPhone while pretending to listen to everything the doctor said with a sweet smile. She hadn’t asked Esme a single question on the baby’s progress- how she was feeling or if she was comfortable.
Which told the truth about her intentions.
She hadn’t changed at all. What had probably happened was that she had run out of money and come crawling back to leech off a man she knew she could twist around her finger.
Which left Esme out in the cold.
> Of course, the statement was figurative rather than literal. She was still receiving her stipend, most of which she still planned to return to Daniel. She didn’t need his money – especially now since she had started full time at Pierre’s. Once she forced herself to forget that it was Daniel who had given her the job opportunity in the first place, she put all her frustrations, her desperation, and her pain into her cooking.
The restaurant exploded onto the national food scene with a loud bang. Within weeks of starting, she was being interviewed by a range of food magazines. Chefs from all over the country were arriving in her kitchen to watch her work, and she found herself in her element. She was surrounded by food, a supportive staff, and people that believed in her.
Then why was she so goddamn miserable?
Within a month, she’d be rid of the child growing within her – a child she had done her utmost to try and forget – in so much as one in her situation could. Now, his parenting would fall to Daniel and Alyssa, and she could only pray that the latter’s carelessness didn’t put the baby in danger.
Esme squeezed her eyes shut, shaking her head.
It wasn’t her problem. Absolutely not her problem.
She’d caught glimpses of the man, now and then. He popped into Pierre’s about once a week to eat, and she tried her damnedest not to peek from the kitchen – to catch a glimpse of his swarthy face and long, muscular form.
Every time, she gave in – and every time, Alyssa was there to give her a triumphant, snarky little wave.
She wondered if Daniel even cared that she was working well into her eighth month of pregnancy. As much as she cared for the safety of the child, Esme couldn’t simply sit at home, idle. Her apartment felt empty in the wake of all the time she’d spent with Daniel. There, there were no horseback riding lessons. No outings on the ranch and no warm body sliding against hers at night. There were only her crazy hormones, sleepless nights, and a kitchen that was now much too small for her immense belly and the child inside it.
She was alone.
She couldn’t tell her parents, or anyone she knew about the true source or her pregnancy because of all the disclosures she’d signed. She had to face the impending birth of a baby which Daniel probably wouldn’t even attend if Alyssa had her way, and then, she would know that the child she had once ventured to treasure would only be ignored by the mother who was supposed to love him.
Cursing, Esme leapt back from the stove as her sauce boiled over, her back hitting the opposite counter painfully so she cried out. Immediately, there was a collection of sous chefs by her side, and she tried to wave them away, struggling to right herself.
“I’m fine.” She tried firmly. “Really, I’m fine.”
But she wasn’t. She didn’t know if she would ever be fine. She’d given her heart to the one man she’d thought would never break it and then he’d gone and done exactly that. God, was there any greater fool in the world?
All at once, she went lightheaded and clutched at the counter for purchase as a gush of moisture spilled from between her legs, wetting her pants down the front. Gasping in surprise, Esme looked over herself a moment before a cramp sliced through her womb, making her groan.
Jesus. Not now. Not now.
Pierre was at her side in minutes, easing her down onto the floor as he directed the other sous chefs in a mixture of French and English. But Esme heard nothing he said. It was all she could do to breathe, fear for the baby within her tightening her chest to the point of hyperventilation. Daniel had to see that Alyssa would destroy any chance of family he might have – he had to.
But whether he did or he didn’t, now, it was too late.
**
It was Alyssa’s birthday.
As always, she’d planned an extravagant party using his money – though Daniel would give her that at least this time she’d asked.
He stood on the balcony of Venicia, her favorite Italian restaurant, watching her flit around the party below in a five thousand dollar dress that molded to every contour of her body perfectly.
And yet, he could drum up no desire for her.
It was true, she had changed – but not in the way Daniel might have hoped. Now, instead of blowing up at the slightest problem, Alyssa had other methods for getting her way. She would bring the baby into everything, citing that a mother’s happiness was paramount to a child’s happiness.
In truth, Daniel didn’t know what more he could do to make her happy. He’d given her tens of thousands of dollars. Let her completely redecorate the nursery in god awful hues of pink and purple. He’d stopped going to doctor’s appointments with Esme at her insistence that it would only cause him undue “emotional stress”.
And now, he stood in the center of Alyssa’s lavish party, wondering if Esme was happy. Alyssa might be the baby’s biological mother, but Esme was the one giving birth. While Esme's belly was swelled with child, Alyssa flitted around with a bevvy of socialites, gossiping about the latest high society scandal.
Where was Esme, he wondered? At her apartment, living off his stipend, as she merely waited for her pregnancy to run its course? He knew they had agreed that she’d stop working at Pierre’s the closer her delivery date drew, and Alyssa assured him she had, but Esme was miserable without access to a decent kitchen.
He couldn’t help but think she must be in her apartment, alone and sullen, suffering through the last stages of one of the most difficult biological processes known to man – alone. Sighing, he took a sip of his champagne.
Esme wasn’t supposed to be his concern anymore. He himself had dismissed her, hadn’t he? And yet here he sat, pining after her like a school boy.
All at once, his phone buzzed. Reaching into his pocket automatically, he retrieved it to answer.
“This is Hartsford.”
“Daniel, It’s Amos.” The doctor sounded rushed, worry tingling his deep tenor. “Esme’s gone into labor. An ambulance just picked her up from Pierre’s. I’m on my way to the hospital now.”
For a moment, the rancher forgot how to speak.
Esme was in labor…now? And why had an ambulance picked her up from Pierre’s? Christ, had she been working? Eight months into her pregnancy.
His protective instincts immediately kicked into overdrive. “Has the ambulance reached the hospital yet?”
“Only just.” Amos returned curtly. “Supposedly, she’s only a few centimeters dilated, but they say she’s progressing fast. You and Alyssa need to get down there as soon as you can.”
“Of course. Immediately.” Immediately, a mixture of excitement and apprehension welled in his stomach. This was it. His child would make its way into the world tonight. Turning from the balcony, he hurried down the stairs to make his way through the crowd to Alyssa. Taking her arm in a firm grip, he caught his breath before he addressed her. “Alyssa, we have to go.”
The dark-haired beauty’s eyes flashed briefly in annoyance before she put up an understanding front. “Honey, I know you don’t like parties like this, but it’s just for a little while. And it’s my birthday. Enjoy yourself!”
“Esme’s in labor right now.” He lowered his voice beneath the din of the crowd. “They’ve just taken her to the hospital. We need to be there.”
For a moment, Alyssa’s eyes widened in what was very clearly panic before she settled herself, smoothing the lush fabric of her dress slowly. “Well, Daniel, that’s what the doctors are for, aren’t they? Why do we need to be there? We can just visit after the baby’s been born. We won’t even have to deal with Esme that way.”
In that instant, all Daniel could do was stare at her in utter disbelief? Not go to the hospital for the birth? Was she utterly out of her mind? “You don’t want to be there when your baby is born, Alyssa?” His voice was hoarse with shock. “Your only child?”
“It’s my birthday, Daniel.” The dark-haired woman’s voice took on a sudden, dangerous edge. “And no, forgive me if I don’t want to spend it in a shitty hospital, watching so
me screaming woman piss herself. The baby isn’t going anywhere.”
At last.
Her true colors showed. Daniel felt guilt, shame and sorrow consume him as he realized what an idiot he’d been to even give Alyssa a second chance. It was clear that she cared nothing about the baby now, and that wouldn’t change when she held it in her arms – if, indeed, she even thought herself capable of such a thing.
“Why did you lie to me?” He demanded suddenly. “You told me Esme stopped working at Pierre’s a month ago. She went into labor in the goddamn kitchen. Why, Alyssa?”
“Oh, honey.” Now, she was sweet again – saccharine sweet. Like the bad taste left in your mouth after bitter chocolate. “I just didn’t want to worry you…” She reached for him, only to have him take her wrists in his grip to lower them firmly.
“What worries me is your complete and utter disregard for Esme’s safety. Or the baby’s. Now that I think about it, Alyssa, I don’t know how I ever imagined you could have changed.” By this point, a hush had fallen over the crowd as they took in the spectacle beginning before them. “It’s very clear what you want – and what you want has nothing to do with anything but yourself.”
Alyssa’s eyes narrowed into irate slits, and in that moment, she dropped all pretense of sweetness. “You know, coming from a man who bullied me into having a baby, Daniel, that’s a fucking riot.”
“Bullied you?” A harsh bark of laughter escaped him. “You could have walked away from me at any time. From us. But no, you were used to a standard of living that you couldn’t maintain, weren’t you? You needed me as your own private piggy bank? You’re standing here, bitching to me about me forcing you to have a baby when you aren’t! Esme’s in labor right now, and no one’s there to help her!”
“Fine. Then go. Go to your precious little whore. Just know that I’m not going to make things easy on you, Daniel. That baby’s half mine, and I’m going to make your life a living hell for what you’ve done to me!”
What he had done to her?
The Cowboy's Baby: A BWWM Billionaire Cowboy Pregnancy Romance Page 13