Billion dollar baby bargain.txt

by Неизвестный

  Luke’s irritation at being wakened in the middle of the night instantly disappeared at the mention of his

  younger sister. “Is she all right? What’s happened? Does she need a doctor?”

  “I’m not sure.” Jake paused. “She tells me she’s fine, but when I called her this evening she was sobbing

  her heart out. Again.”

  “Again? You mean this has happened before? How recently? And why haven’t I heard about it until

  now?” Luke demanded. Normally, he and Jake shared everything. Especially their concerns about their

  younger sister.

  “She begged me not to say anything to you the first time it happened,” Jake answered. “And I figured it

  was just one of those emotional things women do when they have a bad day.”

  Checking to see if his conversation had disturbed Haley, Luke found her still sleeping peacefully in his

  bed. Satisfied, he turned his attention to the matter at hand. Normally a very happy person, Arielle rarely

  cried unless something was terribly wrong.

  “How many times has this happened?”

  “Twice,” Jake confirmed. “And you and I both know this isn’t like her.”

  “Did she tell you why?” Luke inquired, quietly opening the door and walking into the great room.

  “I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me. And that’s what has me concerned. She’s never kept anything from

  us before.” Jake’s frustration was evident in his tone. “The only thing she would say was we couldn’t fix

  everything for her and that she’d work it out on her own.”

  That wasn’t like their younger sister at all. From the time she could talk, Arielle had shared everything

  that went on in her life with them and never hesitated to come to either one of them with whatever

  problem she had.

  “Maybe she’s having second thoughts about this deal she insisted we all make with Emerald Larson,”

  Luke offered, thinking aloud. God only knew he’d had more than his fair share of misgivings.

  “I seriously doubt it.” Jake snorted disgustedly. “She told me last week that she’s already put in her

  resignation at the preschool, given notice on her apartment and couldn’t wait to move to Dallas.”

  Luke remained silent as he thought of what could possibly be wrong with their little sister. “Don’t

  women sometimes cry when they go through that hormonal change each month?” he asked, wondering

  if Haley was prone to mood swings.

  “How the hell should I know? If you’ll remember, when Arielle went through puberty, we didn’t have a

  clue what to tell her and ended up having our secretaries talk to her about what was going on with her

  body,” Jake huffed, sounding just as clueless as Luke felt. “Since neither one of us has a wife to talk to

  her, should we have your assistant give her a call and find out what the deal is? They seemed to hit it off

  pretty well the last couple of times she and I flew into Nashville for a visit.”

  Luke took a deep breath. He’d intended to call Jake and tell him about his plan for an heir and his

  agreement with Haley once they returned to Nashville. But since he had his brother on the phone, Luke

  figured there was no time like the present to fill Jake in.

  “Well, you’re half right about that statement,” he admitted, anticipating his brother’s reaction. “You

  might not be married, but I took the plunge this weekend.”

  There was a shocked silence before Jake shouted. “You did what? And why didn’t I hear about this

  sooner?”

  “I didn’t make my decision until this past week.”

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Jake countered, sounding thoroughly disgusted. “Haven’t you been

  listening when I tell you about all the nasty divorce cases I handle?”

  Explaining his reasons for wanting a son, Luke carefully omitted Haley’s name when he told his brother

  about the agreement they’d reached. His brother had been teasing him for several years about having

  hired Haley to add beauty to the Garnier offices. Odd that Jake had noticed years ago what Luke had

  only recently discovered about her. But then, Jake had always taken an interest in every woman he’d

  ever laid eyes on.

  “Are you sure you can trust this woman?” Jake sounded more than a little doubtful. “How long have you

  known her?”

  “Five years and I have no reason not to trust her,” Luke confirmed, realizing that he’d never put his faith

  in any other woman the way he did Haley. “She’s above reproach.”

  “I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that.” Always the divorce attorney, Jake demanded

  “What about a prenup? Please tell me you had her sign one.”

  “Signed, sealed and airtight,” Luke answered.

  “You should have had me look it over,” Jake groused, clearly disappointed that he’d been excluded from

  Luke’s plan.

  “I would have if there had been time,” Luke reiterated, meaning it. “But I needed to move on this before

  she changed her mind.”

  “So what if she had? I’m sure you could find another one willing to be the surrogate,” Jake said

  reasonably. “And you might not have had to get married to get what you wanted.”

  Luke shook his head. “I didn’t want anyone else. This woman is perfect. She has every trait I’m looking

  to pass on to my heir.”

  Several long seconds passed before Jake spoke again. “Well, now that you’re out of the running, I guess

  it won’t bother you if I make my move on that sweet little assistant of yours. You know how hot I’ve

  always thought she was.”

  “I have it on good authority that Haley’s husband wouldn’t appreciate your plan to include her as the

  object of one of your sexual interludes,” Luke grumbled, suddenly more angry with his brother than he

  could ever remember and not entirely sure why.

  He told himself it was because Jake was a notorious player and changed women as often as he changed

  his socks. But the truth of the matter was, Luke couldn’t stand the thought of any other man touching

  Haley.

  Jake was silent before he finally spoke again. “Well, I’ll be damned. Haley is my new sister-in-law, isn’t

  she, Luke?”

  Still trying to come to grips with the uncharacteristic possessiveness threatening to consume him, Luke

  ran his hand over the tension building at the back of his neck. “Yeah.”

  “I wondered how long it would take for you to finally wake up.” Jake sounded genuinely surprised. “I’d

  almost given up on you noticing what a looker she is.”

  “I told you the sole purpose of the marriage is to have my heir. It’s only a temporary thing.”

  To Luke’s immense displeasure, Jake laughed like a damned hyena. “You keep telling yourself that, bro,

  and you might just start to believe it.”

  If Luke could have reached through the phone, he’d have cheerfully choked his twin. “Did anyone ever

  tell you what a smart-ass you are, Jake?”

  “You do just about every time we talk,” Jake declared, his continued laughter irritating Luke beyond

  words.

  Luke took a deep breath. “We’ve spent more than enough time talking about me and my current

  situation. Can we get back to the real reason you woke me up in the middle of the night?”

  “I just wanted to give you the heads up about Arielle,”

  Jake confirmed, his voice turning serious. “Maybe you can figure out what’s wrong the next time the

  two of you talk.”

/>   “I’ll give her a call when I get back to Nashville,” Luke indicated. “If I find out anything, I’ll let you

  know.”

  “Okay.” His brother paused a moment before adding, “And in the meantime, you tell that sweet little

  woman of yours that her favorite brother-in-law said ‘welcome to the family.’”

  “It’s temporary, Jake.”

  “So you say, bro. So you say.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Then I don’t suppose you’ll have a problem with me kissing the bride the next time I see her?”

  Luke knew that his brother was baiting him, but it didn’t seem to matter. “Try it and die.”

  At the sound of Jake’s hearty laughter, Luke punched the end button and walking back into the bedroom,

  tossed the cell phone on top of the pile of clothing on the floor. He wasn’t sure who he was angrier with

  —Jake or himself.

  In all fairness to Jake, he’d just been his typical devil-may-care self. But Luke, on the other hand, had

  abandoned his usual reserve and displayed all the self-control of an enraged bull.

  What he couldn’t understand was why his brother’s kidding bothered him so much. And why, when Jake

  mentioned making a move on Haley and then warned that he was going to “kiss the bride,” Luke had

  been angry enough to bite nails in two.

  But as he looked at Haley still sound asleep, he abandoned his speculation. He had a warm, willing

  woman in his bed and a lot more pleasurable things on his mind than his smart-aleck brother’s sense of

  humor.

  Seven

  A week after their return to Nashville, Haley gathered a report on one of Garnier’s current building

  projects and walked into Luke’s private office. “I’ve run the numbers on the Robinson build as you

  requested and it appears that we’re going to come in under budget by at least a few hundred thousand

  dollars, maybe a little more.”

  “Good to hear,” Luke said without looking up from his computer. “Close the door, Haley.”

  Anticipating a confidential discussion on one of the current Garnier construction projects, she closed the

  door and sat down in the chair in front of his desk. Since their return to the office, they’d resumed their

  business-as-usual relationship during the day. Luke was still the no-nonsense, workaholic boss he’d

  always been and she was the executive assistant he relied on to keep his office running smoothly. To the

  outward eye, everything was just as it had always been, no single thing had changed. They even drove to

  the Garnier office in separate cars.

  But at home it was an entirely different story. When they were alone in his mansion, Luke was warm,

  compassionate and an absolutely insatiable lover. And she was the object of his attention from the

  moment they closed the door until they walked back out the next morning for work.

  Looking up from the computer screen, he motioned for her to come around to his side of the desk.

  “There’s something here I think you’ll want to see.”

  When she rounded the desk, she glanced at the computer monitor. It wasn’t even turned on. But before

  she could question why he’d been intently focused on a blank screen, he turned his chair sideways,

  wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down to sit on his lap.

  “Good lord, Luke, what are you doing?” She’d assumed that his hands-off attitude at the office had been

  to keep from feeding the ever-present rumor mill. “What if someone notices your door is shut?”

  “No one will think anything is out of the ordinary,” he said, nipping at the sensitive skin along the

  column of her neck. When he leaned back to look at her, his grin was as promising and wicked as she’d

  ever seen it. “I’m the boss and you’re my executive assistant. It’s not at all unusual for us to have a

  private meeting with the door closed.”

  “That’s true, but what about—”

  When his mouth covered hers, Haley abandoned trying to reason with him. Luke still hadn’t informed

  anyone about their marriage beyond his twin brother. But she wasn’t surprised when he told her on the

  way back to Nashville that he’d let Jake know about their arrangement. Being mirror twins, they had

  always shared a special bond.

  As Luke began to nibble at the corner of her mouth, coaxing her to open her lips for him, she relegated

  all thought of his relationship with his brother to the back of her mind and responded to his unspoken

  request. As his tongue slipped inside to mate with her own, liquid fire raced through her veins and an

  exciting little charge of electric current began to gather into a need deep in the pit of her belly.

  He moved his hands to lift her arms to his shoulders, giving him free access to her breasts and emitting a

  tiny moan, she arched into his palms. His taste, his tender teasing and the feel of his hands gently

  caressing her caused a delightful tightening in her lower stomach and she wished with all of her heart

  they were somewhere besides the Garnier office.

  “Do you know what I think?” he prompted, when he finally broke the kiss.

  He expected her to form a rational thought after a kiss like that and with his hands still holding her

  breasts, his thumbs still gently circling her nipples through her clothing?

  Laying her head on his shoulder, she kissed his neck. His whole body shuddered and a tiny feminine

  thrill coursed through her at the knowledge that she could affect him that way.

  “I don’t have a clue what you have on your mind, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me,” she whispered

  close to his ear.

  “I’m thinking that I’d like to take you home for lunch,” he stated, his tone hoarse.

  “Really? And just what would be on the menu?” she inquired, leaning back to give him a wide-eyed

  innocent look.

  The hunger in his incredibly blue eyes caused her stomach to do a funny little backflip. “You.”

  “I would love to go home for your kind of lunch,” she agreed, regretting what she was about to say next.

  “But we have a luncheon meeting scheduled with Ray Barnfield to go over the figures for his new office

  building and I doubt he’d be very happy if we called to reschedule. And since we don’t have a signed

  contract yet, he might even decide to go with another construction company.”

  “Damn, I forgot about that.” Luke looked as disappointed as she felt. “No, rescheduling is completely

  out of the question. We’ve worked too hard on this project to risk losing it now.”

  “I assume you still want me to go along?” When the meeting had been set up, he’d mentioned as much.

  He nodded. “I want you to present the materials estimates to Ray, then I’ll jump in with the projected

  deadlines and close the deal.”

  Over the past five years, they’d worked out a system of presenting proposals to potential clients as a

  team and it had proven to be very effective, winning several lucrative contracts for Garnier Construction.

  “I’ll get Ray’s file ready,” she indicated as she started to get off Luke’s lap.

  “Hey, where do you think you’re going?” he chided, tightening his hold on her.

  “The meeting is scheduled for one o’clock.” Smiling, she pressed a kiss to his lean cheek. “And if you

  expect me to help you bring this deal to a satisfactory end, I need to have all of my ducks in a row.”

  He gave her a quick kiss, then set her on her feet. “While you’re getting everything lined out for the

  meeting,
there’s something else I want you to do.”

  “What would that be?”

  His expression held a wealth of promise. “Call and cancel my appointments for the rest of the day and

  arrange for Ruth Ann to take over for you as well.”

  She had a pretty good idea why they were taking the afternoon off but felt compelled to ask, “Is there a

  reason we won’t be back in the office this afternoon?”

  “Once we leave the restaurant, we’ll both be going home for dessert.” His wide grin promised an

  afternoon of sheer ecstasy. “If you’ll remember, we have a baby to make, sweetheart. And I’m taking

  immense pleasure in this little project.”

  Careful not to wake him, Haley slipped from beneath Luke’s arm and got out of bed to search for her

  robe. Her tears were not only threatening, they were imminent and walking out onto the master suite’s

  balcony, she let them flow freely down her cheeks as she considered what had taken place earlier in the

  day.

  The meeting with the client couldn’t have gone better. Together, she and Luke had presented plans and a

  cost estimate that enticed Mr. Barnfield and by the end of the luncheon, the man had verbally agreed to

  have Garnier Construction build his new high-rise. Then, when she and Luke had left the restaurant,

  he’d brought her home and they’d spent the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening making slow,

  passionate love.

  But for her, the day had been bittersweet. When they’d arrived at the restaurant, Luke hadn’t introduced

  her to the client as Haley Garnier. He’d seemed to stress the point that she was Miss Rollins, his

  executive assistant.

  She knew she was being completely unreasonable about the matter. But it still hurt to think that she was

  married to the man she loved with all of her heart and he couldn’t find it within himself to tell anyone

  that she was his wife. Even if it was temporary.

  How could he be so caring and considerate when they made love and not acknowledge her as his spouse?

  Swiping at the tears running down her cheeks, she walked over to the railing to stare out at the night sky.

  She’d known when she agreed to have his baby that their marriage was an appeasement—a way to get