She sucked in a surprised breath when she saw Nathan standing on her porch. Way to play it cool, Ana. Great job.
“Hi,” he said, and her heart dropped from her knees and landed in the balls of her feet. He looked good. So good that for a second she forgot to be angry. She very nearly launched herself at him.
“I’m very mad at you,” she said, more to remind herself than to warn him.
“I just want to talk,” he said, and the deep rumble of his voice danced across her nerve endings, making her shiver.
Whatever you do, just stay mad. Do not throw yourself into his arms.
“I have company over right now,” she said.
“And I was just leaving,” Beth said from behind her.
She turned to Beth and glared at her. Traitor.
Beth pulled her coat on and kissed Ana’s cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” As she stepped down to the porch beside Nathan she looked up at him and said, “Hurt her again and I will take you out.”
Nathan’s brows rose a fraction, and she could swear she saw the hint of a smile. What did he have to smile about? She hoped he wasn’t here thinking he was going to get her back. Because that was not going to happen.
He stepped inside and took off his coat. He was still dressed for work. “Is Max here?”
She shook her head. “He’s at Jenny’s for a play date.”
“That’s good. We can talk without any distractions.”
“Who says I want to talk?”
“Well, you let me in, didn’t you?”
Not a smart move on her part. Because maybe she wasn’t quite as mad as she’d thought.
“Can we go sit down?” he asked.
That would be a bad idea. She wanted him close to the door so she could shove him out on a moment’s notice if she got any funny ideas. Or if he did. “I’m comfortable right here.”
He shrugged and said, “Okay.”
“So, what did you want to talk about?”
“I have had an interesting day.”
“Oh yeah? And why should I care?”
“My brother and I had a heart-to-heart talk today. I think we may have resolved a few things.”
“That’s good, I guess. Although I still wouldn’t trust him.”
“And I went to see my dad.”
Whoa. She definitely hadn’t expected him to say that. “Why?”
“I’m not sure. I went out for a drive, and I just ended up there. Maybe subconsciously I figured that when you have a problem to solve, it’s best to go to the source. He was my source.”
She folded her arms and against her better judgement asked, “How did that go?”
“It was…enlightening. It would seem that my dad actually loved my mom, and when he proposed to her, she was in fact not pregnant.”
“Oh.”
“He loved her so much that he stayed married to her, even though he knew she only wanted his money. And he was miserably unhappy.”
“That’s kinda sad.”
“That’s the difference between him and me, I guess. I wasn’t unhappy. At least, not until I screwed everything up. Before that, I was really, really happy.”
Yeah, so was she. But it was over.
She inched closer to the door. If he kept this up, he was out of here. Or maybe she should just run.
“I think I wanted you to fix me,” he said. “I just needed to figure out that the only person who can fix me is me.”
If she yanked the door open, grabbed his sleeve and tugged she could probably muscle him onto the porch. “Are you saying you’re fixed now?”
“I’m saying that I’ve isolated the problem, and though I’m not one hundred percent there, I’m definitely a work in progress. But there is a problem.”
Well that was good, because she needed a problem or two to firm up her resolve. “What problem?”
“I’m in love with you, and I miss my son, and without the two of you in my life permanently, I don’t think I can be happy.”
Don’t even think about it. You are not giving him another chance. She was inches from the doorknob…
“I went before the board today.”
“What for?”
“To tell them about you and Max. I assured them that being married to a Birch was not going to diminish my loyalty to Western Oil. I don’t know if they believed me, but they didn’t take me out of the running. I guess time will tell.”
“Nathan, why did you do that?”
“Because it was wrong of me to try to hide you. Max is my son. Keeping his existence a secret is tantamount to saying that I’m ashamed of him. And I’m not. I love him and I’m proud of him and I want everyone to know that. And I want them to know that I love his mother, and I want to spend the rest of my life loving her.” He reached up and touched her cheek. “And she is the most important thing to me. Not the job.”
She had waited an awfully long time for someone to feel that way about her. To put her first. “You know, you’re making it really hard for me to stay mad at you.”
He grinned. “That’s sort of the point, since I could really use one more chance.”
Like she had any hope of resisting him now. She threw her arms around him and hugged him hard. “One more. But if you screw up this time, I swear I’m siccing Beth on you.”
“This time you’re definitely stuck with me.” He wrapped his arms around her, held her close. “I missed you. And Max. This has been the most miserable week of my life.”
“Mine too.” But she was good now. Really, really good.
“I love you, Ana.”
“I love you, too. Why don’t I go get Max? He’s going to be so happy to see you.”
“Wait. Before you do, there’s one more thing we have to talk about.”
His face was so serious, her heart plunged. “What?”
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled something out. It took her a second to realize that it was a small velvet box. A ring box. Then he actually dropped down on one knee.
Oh my God. Her heart was beating so hard she thought for sure it would break right through her chest.
He opened the box, and inside was a diamond solitaire ring. It was so beautiful it took her breath away. “Ana, would you do me the honor of being my wife?”
She had fantasized about this day since she was a little girl but could never have imagined how truly special it would be. She was getting everything she ever wanted. That and so much more.
“Yes I will, Nathan,” she said, through a sheen of tears—happy ones this time—and with a grin, he slipped the ring on her finger.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-0929-9
A CLANDESTINE CORPORATE AFFAIR
Copyright © 2011 by Michelle Celmer
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*Royal Seductions
†Black Gold Billionaires
Corporate Affair
A Clandestine Corporate Affair Page 16