The lights dimmed and the crowd started applauding. It was time for the auction to start.
* * *
Morgan thought she’d seen Penny in the crowd but couldn’t be sure. When the lights dimmed and the auctioneer took the stage, she saw Penny, looking radiant in a crimson dress, scooting closer to the front of the stage. The auction began and the crowd went wild. The bidding went by fast; bachelor number five was already on the stage. It was obvious they were saving Seth and Tate for last.
When Tate finally took to the stage, Morgan got to see just how dashing he looked in his tuxedo. Hands flew up so fast the auctioneer could barely keep track. The bid was up to a whopping ten thousand dollars. Morgan was standing next to a group of ten women who were trying to calculate how much money they had all together. The last she heard they were up to thirty-five thousand dollars total but then an argument broke out about how they were going to share Tate. She never did get to listen to that infamous song Seth told her about, but now she was dying to hear it. The bidding slowed down to fifty-five thousand until Tate grabbed the microphone.
“Now ladies, I know you can do better than that. We’re trying to make sure the Main Street Clinic has another successful year. I tell you what, I’ll even bring my guitar on the date.”
There were a few cat calls and someone by the stage made a racy comment about how much fun Tate was bound to be. That fueled Tate’s fire and he began to sing a capella. The bidding finally ended at eighty thousand dollars. Tate grinned and strode off the stage.
“Our last bachelor for the evening is none other than Texas’ favorite football son. For those of you who didn’t get to see the cover of the last Gentlemen’s Monthly, I suggest you take a sedative before you look. Cause that man nearly burned up the pages. Give a warm welcome to Seth Blake!”
Seth walked on stage looking like a hot combination of a cowboy and a secret agent. The auctioneer was smiling so hard she didn’t even notice he’d taken the microphone out of her hand.
“Ladies,” his deep voice reverberated through the speakers, “I have a confession to make. Many of you don’t know that I got married recently and my beautiful wife, Morgan, insisted I do this event because she knew it was for a good cause. Now I can’t show you as good a time as Tate can, but I would love to have lunch with one of you.”
Morgan thought that would have put a damper on the lust riddled crowd but there was so much yelling and shoving going on, someone nearly knocked her down. Suddenly her consent to send her new hubby up there as fundraiser bait was getting irritating.
“We’ll start the bid at a thousand.” The auctioneer blushed as Seth draped his arm around her.
Morgan shook her head at him. He winked at her and the crowd went wild again. She found it hard to believe that every single woman in there thought he was winking at them and not his wife.
Paddles started flapping in the air as the bidding quickly catapulted into the ten thousand range.
Suddenly a voice shouted out, “Twenty thousand.”
Morgan knew that high pitched twang from the Bright Star: Dr. Penny Winterbourne.
Oh, hell no.
The other bidders remained engaged and the price kept climbing. Penny would not be out done and waved her paddle.
“Eighty thousand dollars.”
The look Seth directed at Penny was not a happy one, but he didn’t lose his cool. The auctioneer continued but no one else answered when she asked for eighty-five thousand. Morgan stood there, trying to get a grip on the situation. Penny was sticking it to her, in public, because she was mad that Seth wasn’t sticking it to her anymore.
“Excuse me ladies, can I borrow your paddle?” Morgan said to the group of ten deflated women who couldn’t match Penny’s bid.
One of the women sadly turned it over. “Good luck, sweetheart. The crimson queen up there looks like she’s loaded.”
Morgan held up the paddle. “Ninety thousand.”
Penny looked back at her but held up her paddle again. “Ninety-five thousand.”
“One hundred thousand.”
“One hundred twenty thousand.”
The auctioneer’s repeat of Penny’s bid boomed in Morgan’s ears. Penny turned and gave her a small smirk. Seth looked like he wanted to jump off the stage and throttle Penny. Morgan’s heart was beating so hard she could hear it in her ears. It wasn’t about the fact that her husband was standing up on the stage about to fall into the evil clutches of an ex-girlfriend, it was about how all of it made her feel. The only thing she could compare it to at the moment was getting a favorite toy taken away when she was a child. That was ridiculous because Seth wasn’t a toy. He was a man. The same man that had purposely run into her on the beach to get her attention. He wanted her. She didn’t have to spring some trap to lure him her way. She felt silly for getting into a bidding war with Penny. It was time to put an end to her civilized battle.
“One million dollars,” Morgan said, trying to sound as casual as possible. As soon as she said it her stomach started doing flip flops, but the look of horror on Penny’s face was worth the million bucks already.
“One million going once, going twice, sold to the pretty lady in the pink dress.”
* * *
Morgan wrote a check to the auctioneer. There were plenty of people crowding around her, now that everyone knew she was Seth’s wife. She had a new fan club made of the ten women whose paddle she had borrowed. She graciously thanked them for lending her the paddle then informed them that they were going to spend the day with Seth.
When she was finally able to get away from the crowd, her hands were shaking.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” Seth asked.
“I just wrote a check for a million dollars.” She breathed heavily.
“Feels good don’t it?” Tate smiled.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” She looked at Seth.
The room was getting stuffy, and she felt like she was swirling about on a carousel. Morgan high tailed it to the ladies’ room just in time to get to a stall and save her lovely pink dress from being ruined. She leaned against the door afterward, her skin feeling clammy. Had she eaten today? Preparing for the banquet had taken all day. She had wanted to look her best, especially knowing Penny would be there.
The click of the restroom door gave her hope the ladies that had been in there when she had sprinted in had left. She just wanted to splash some cold water on her face and find Seth. Morgan clutched her rumbling stomach. That wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
“Are you OK? Someone said you were in here throwing up?” Penny said as she walked toward Morgan.
“I’m fine. What are you doing?” She backed away.
“I just want to take a look at you.” Penny still came at her.
“I don’t think so. You couldn’t diagnose a hang nail for me.” Morgan held up her hand.
“I told Seth and Tate I would come in and make sure you were OK.” Penny hunched her shoulders.
“That must have been painful for you.” Morgan smirked.
“I take my oath as a doctor very seriously. And the way both men were concerned about you, I had to see for myself if you were all right.” Penny put her hand on her hip.
“Bet you were wishing I was dead, right?”
Penny clutched her throat. “What a horrible thing to say.”
“Not as horrible as pretending to be the pious doctor. I did outbid you after all.”
“Oh that? This is a fundraiser. I was trying to get the crowd hot and bothered so they would bid high.” Penny turned to wash her hands.
Morgan dug her nails into her palm. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you. Besides you were the one who outrageously drove up the bidding price.” Penny smirked.
“I would think, since the money will be going directly to the clinic, you wouldn’t consider it outrageous.”
“Of course the donation means a lot. But you didn’t have to
let the world know how insecure you are. If I had won, what’s the harm of one date with an old friend?”
“If your old friend Seth was still so accessible to you then you wouldn’t have had to bid for a date.” Morgan leaned on the wall for support. The nausea was coming back.
“He loves me. He always has. He goes off and distracts himself with women, but he always comes back to me. You remember that while you’re biding your time until he leaves you.” Penny dried her hands with a paper towel and threw it in the trash.
“If you really loved him at all, you would have never left him. But the real question is, if he still loved you, why did he let you leave and didn’t try to win you back?” Morgan retrieved her purse off the sink and pushed past Penny. As she moved along the corridor she saw a chair at the entrance. It was only a few feet away but her feet felt like lead and the clamminess returned. Now dizziness was setting in and the corridor spun. Morgan collapsed before she reached the chair.
Chapter Eight
Morgan’s eyes opened to find a very weary looking Seth sitting on her hospital bed. His bow tie was missing and his five o’clock shadow was beginning to show. The room was quiet except for the thunderous sound of the intravenous drip echoing through the room. The memory of their first meeting flashed in her mind but this time there were no sandy beaches and palm trees dancing in the wind.
She smiled. “Déjà vu.”
“Morgan,” was all Seth was able say as he leaned in and kissed her.
“This is so embarrassing.” She blushed. She was in a hospital gown and her pretty pink dress was hanging in the open closet.
“You scared the hell out of me.” Seth cupped her face in his hands.
“Sorry. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. Where’s your family?”
“In the waiting room. Aggravating the hell out of the hospital staff.”
“I see they’re giving me fluids.” She took a look at the label on the IV bag.
“Yes, they said you were dehydrated. They also ran some tests. The doctor will be in any moment.”
Morgan took his hand and brought it to her heart. “Hey, you look shaken. I just passed out. Unless I did it in an undignified way. Did my dress fly up in the air?”
“No. But you did look like Sleeping Beauty.” He smiled.
“I can live with that.”
A big bearded man entered the room wearing green scrubs. “Mrs. Blake, so glad to see you’re awake. I’m doctor Engle. Don’t mind me, I was finishing up in surgery when the nurse told me she heard you talking to Mr. Blake. Thought I’d pop in to give you the results. We took blood and had it rushed to the lab.”
Morgan smiled. She wondered which Blake had insisted her blood work be rushed. “Thank you for taking such quick action.”
“No worries, dear.” Dr. Engle grinned. “Now I have the results here. It’s pretty big news.”
Morgan felt her heart clench. What had she done to herself, running ragged, trying to do too much at once?
“You two are going to be parents.”
She gasped, then laughed. She was pregnant? That explained a lot.
“A baby?” Seth grinned as he squeezed her hand.
Morgan smiled, still in shock. “A baby.”
Dr. Engle couldn’t stop grinning either from the looks of it. “That’s right. I am very proud to say I told Seth Blake he’s going to be a father. Wait until my golf buddies hear about this.” Then he cleared his throat. “But in all seriousness, your husband was telling me you had an issue with chili the other day. And you haven’t been eating well. You were a bit dehydrated. I want to start you on prenatal vitamins immediately. From now on you have to eat well, the baby will be cravings those nutrients as well. I’ll have the staff bring you in a big breakfast and I want you to continue the IV until tomorrow. So, I would like you to extend your stay for another day. I will be back in two hours to go over a few more things with you. I will send my notes to your OB-GYN in Philadelphia.” Dr. Engle zipped out of her room as fast as he’d entered.
“Dr. Dynamo didn’t tell us the due date.” She turned to Seth as she recovered from the shock of the news to find him with a big, goofy grin on his face.
“Morgan, you don’t know how happy you just made me.” Seth touched her nose with his.
“I know we just got married and—”
He silenced her with a long, sensuous kiss.
“It looks like she’s feeling better or he’s giving her mouth to mouth resuscitation,” Tate said as he and the whole family filed into the room.
“Leave them alone, boy.” Teri-Lyn smiled. “They’re celebrating.”
“Celebrating what?” John Jacob said.
Seth beamed. “Morgan and I are having a baby.”
Between all the hollering, hooting, and hugging, Teri-Lyn made it to the side of the bed and hugged Morgan.
“Honey, I didn’t have the heart to tell you that although Tyler’s chili can take the paint off a car, you were having classic pregnancy symptoms.”
“I must have sounded like an idiot to you.”
“Denial is the first stage of pregnancy for new mothers,” Teri-Lyn said with a laugh.
“Morgan, honey, any special cravings you been having?” John Jacob asked. “We have to feed my grandson right.”
“Or granddaughter,” Morgan said.
“Seth, you didn’t tell her?” John Jacob glared at him.
“Tell me what?” Morgan looked at Seth.
“Well, baby, boys tend to run in the family. There is probably a girl born once a generation. And your dad had three boys before he had you, so the odds are in the male favor.”
She huffed. “Well, there’s always a possibility of a girl. None of us here are doctors.”
“Sure,” all the Blake men said in unison.
* * *
Seth convinced Morgan to stay at the ranch a few more days after she was released from the hospital. He didn’t want to take any chances she would get sick on the plane. She wanted to go to the stables to see Reed’s Fire, but he had forbidden her to go.
“Did you just ban me from going to the stables?” She clutched one of his trophies in her hand, threatening to throw it.
“Yes, I did. It’s dangerous for you to be down there.”
“Are you going to be an overbearing daddy during this whole pregnancy? Cause last time I checked you have a job. And it starts in a couple of weeks.”
“Yes, ma’am. If I have to bubble wrap you every day before you leave the house, I’ll do it.”
“If you tried something that idiotic, no more sex for you.”
He chuckled. “We both know who’d crumble first.”
Morgan yawned. “I’m tired just from arguing with you. I am going to take a nap.”
“That sounds good.” Seth grinned. “A nice nap.”
“First, you have to go and check on Reed’s Fire.” She folded her arms over her chest.
Seth snorted. “That horse lives in a five star stable and has round the clock care.”
* * *
Seth made his way down to the stables after Morgan ran out of steam and finally succumbed to sleep. The doctor had told her it may be a few days before she was back to her normal energy level, but she didn’t want to listen. One look in her eyes and he knew she was more tired than she was want to admit. He knew fussing with her would accelerate the process.
He’d been hearing congratulations the last couple of days but each time someone new said it, a sense of happiness filled him again that he couldn’t describe.
“He is a beautiful horse,” a familiar female voice said from the other side of the stables.
Seth’s back stiffened. “This is Morgan’s horse.”
Penny’s lips twitched. “You sure are spoiling that wife of yours.”
He nodded. “She’s worth it. What are you doing here?”
“I hear congratulations are in order.”
Seth laughed. “How did you find out about that?”
“I went by the hospital this morning. I thought I would check up on Morgan, see if she’s doing OK.”
“She’s fine.”
“How long do you think that will last? Do you think a baby is going to keep you together? The two of you have nothing in common.” Penny walked around the barn, looking at the horses in their stalls.
Seth gritted his teeth. “Forever, if I’m lucky.”
Penny sighed. “Are you really happy without me?”
“Things happen for a reason. Everything turned out of the best.”
“Did it?”
Seth looked her right in the eye. “I love Morgan.”
Penny held his gaze. “You’re settling for her and when she finds out it’s going to break her heart. Then you’re going to have a baby to share.”
The blood pounded in his ears at that. “Now wait a damn minute. I didn’t settle with Morgan.”
“Do you forget I’ve known you all your life? I know being with this woman is different but it’s not you.”
“You have no idea what I want or need in my life. Not anymore. People grow up and want different things for themselves.”
Penny scoffed. “Well, I hope you don’t think Ms. Priss is going to move back here on the ranch when you retire from the NFL. You hate Philadelphia.”
“I do not hate Philadelphia.”
“You would write long emails about how it was so far away and the people were rude. You said you missed home and couldn’t wait until you could come back and be on the ranch full time.”
Seth glared at her. “I don’t think I was giving living in the city a chance because I was so convinced I’d be happy living here with you. What a mistake that was. And you don’t get to talk about Morgan like she’s some insignificant play thing. She is going to be the mother of my children. She deserves more respect than that from you.”
Penny folded her arms. “Why don’t you just admit that you still want me? You’ve always wanted me.”
“You always wanted me to want you. We were playing a game and only you had the rulebook.” He laughed bitterly.
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