The Oilman s Baby Bargain

by Michelle Celmer

  The alternative was no longer an option.

  Twelve

  M itch found it ironic that when he had agreed to meet at Darius’s office, he’d figured he would be thankful for the time away from his wife, when in reality, he would much rather be at home with her. For a self-proclaimed workaholic who loved his job above all else, he’d been taking a lot of time off since they got back from Greece.

  At first he tried to convince himself that it was just the sex, and then he told himself that he felt guilty leaving her alone, or was worried that she might try to use the stove and burn his house down. But now, as he sat in the conference room of Darius’s security firm with Darius, Lance, Kevin and Justin, he couldn’t deny that he simply missed her company.

  As hard as he tried to tell himself that she was a spoiled, heartless brat who cared about no one but herself, her actions said he was way off base. If what she’d told him about her father was true, and after seeing the senator in action he was pretty damned sure it was, it was a miracle that Lexi had any self-esteem at all. He now believed that she hadn’t hopped from his bed to his brother’s as some sort of vendetta, but because she was desperate to be accepted and loved. She deserved to be with someone who could love her. But Mitch didn’t do love.

  In a few weeks, he’d gone from thinking that he was somehow superior to her, a better human being, to thinking that he just didn’t measure up. But he had to stick it out for the baby’s sake, the niece or nephew growing in her who deserved to be raised by family, not some stranger.

  “So, when is this meeting going to start?” Kevin asked Darius.

  “As soon as the last person I invited gets here.” No sooner had the words left his mouth than the conference-room door opened and Alex Montoya walked in.

  In an instant, Lance was up and out of his chair. “What is he doing here?”

  Alex shot Lance daggers with his eyes.

  “I asked him to come,” Darius said. “As a Cattleman Club member, this concerns him, too.”

  Mitch sat up in his chair, in case he needed to hold his brother back, but after a tense moment, Lance took his seat and Alex found a chair on the opposite side of the table. Mitch didn’t like Alex, but he gave him credit for having the guts to show his face.

  “I called you all here,” Darius said, “because I have suspicions that someone may be cooking the club books.”

  “Are you suggesting that someone is embezzling from the club?” Justin asked.

  “That’s exactly what I think.”

  “What led you to think that?” Kevin asked.

  “When I set up the new billing system for Helping Hands, something strange happened. The club cut us a check for expenses, but it was made out to Helping Hearts. I called the office and talked to Sebastian Huntington and asked him to fix the error. I just assumed he’d used the wrong name, but he said that he’d sent the wrong check by accident.”

  “I didn’t know there was an organization named Helping Hearts,” Mitch said, although admittedly, he didn’t pay much attention to the club’s finances.

  “I didn’t either,” Darius said. “But I was curious so I did a bit of research, and after some digging, I found that Helping Hearts doesn’t exist.”

  “As club members we have the right to examine the books,” Alex said, looking as concerned as the rest of them.

  “I suppose you think you should be the one to investigate,” Lance snapped back. “How do we know you’re not the one behind it?”

  Alex glared at him. “First you call me an arsonist, now you accuse me of theft? Perhaps you would like to blame me for the stock market crash as well.”

  “I know,” Darius interrupted, before fists started flying, “that it can’t feasibly be someone in this room. Only a member higher up in the ranks could pull this off.”

  “Like who?” Kevin asked.

  “I’m not ready to point any fingers yet. And Alex is right, we need someone to examine the books. I think that person should be Mitch.”

  Suddenly all eyes were on him. “Why me?”

  “I can handle setting up a simple billing system,” Darius told him, “but you’re the financial whiz kid of the group. If anyone would be able to spot discrepancies, it’s you.”

  “I agree,” Justin said.

  “I do, as well,” Alex agreed, which earned him a sharp look from Lance.

  Kevin added his vote. “Me, too.”

  “So it’s unanimous,” Lance said.

  Mitch wasn’t sure if he was comfortable with this, but it seemed he didn’t have much choice. “And if I find something?”

  “We’ll demand an audit from an outside firm. According to the bylaws, the club has no choice but to comply.”

  “I’m still having a tough time believing someone would steal from the club,” Kevin said.

  “So was I,” Darius assured him. “I never would have come forward with this if I wasn’t sure. You’ll keep us posted, Mitch?”

  “Of course.”

  The meeting broke up after that, Alex wisely being the first one to leave. On his way out, Justin asked Mitch, “You want to head to the club for a drink? Watch some soccer?”

  Normally, Mitch wouldn’t have hesitated to spend a few hours with his best friend, but he didn’t feel right leaving Lexi alone. Besides, he had promised they would talk about contractors and the renovations they wanted to make on the house. “I can’t tonight,” he told Justin.

  “Have to get back to the old ball and chain?”

  Mitch didn’t justify that with a response, he just shot Justin a look.

  Justin laughed and shook his head. “Damn. I never thought I’d see the day when Mitchell Brody settled down.”

  “You could be next,” Mitch said, which only made Justin laugh harder.

  “I wouldn’t advise holding your breath. Now that you’re tied down, that just means more available women for me.”

  Leave it to Justin to rationalize it out like that. Although it surprised Mitch to realize it, he didn’t miss playing the field. Maybe later that would change and he would begin to feel restless. But for now he was quite content being a one-woman man.

  When Lexi answered the knock at the front door, the last person she expected to see standing on the porch was her father. As far as she knew, he was supposed to be in D.C.

  “Daddy, what are you doing here?”

  “I need to speak with you,” he said, entering without waiting for an invitation.

  “Of course,” she replied, stepping aside. Maybe he was here to apologize for the way he’d acted at the party.

  He gazed around the foyer looking unimpressed. Probably not big or grand enough for him. “Is your husband here?”

  “No, he had a meeting.” She gestured toward the kitchen. “I was just making myself a cup of tea. Would you like one?”

  “You’re making it? Does your husband not even have the decency to hire a housekeeper?”

  She shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. In fact, I sort of like doing things myself for a change.”

  He shook his head. “It’s even worse than I thought.”

  Clearly that apology wasn’t going to happen. “What’s worse than you thought?”

  “Your life. What Mitch has reduced you to.”

  Reduced her to? On the contrary, it felt as though she had been introduced to a world she never knew existed, with opportunities and possibilities she had never dreamed of. “I’m fine, Daddy. Really.”

  “Nothing about this is ‘fine.’ After the degrading display the other night at the party, I’ve decided not to give the Brody brothers my support.”

  Her heart sank. “You can’t do that.”

  “I can and I will. I still can’t believe the way he was groping you. Do you have any idea how it looked to everyone else in the room?”

  “Probably like we were a newlywed couple so madly in love we couldn’t stand being apart.”

  “Well, the charade is over, so there’s no need for you to stay here any lon
ger. Pack your things and I’ll take you home.”

  She didn’t want to leave. “You promised them your support.”

  “I also told him that if he hurt you, I would crush him.”

  She began feeling a little frantic. Her father was being completely unreasonable. “But he didn’t hurt me.”

  “He sullied your reputation, which is even worse, as far as I’m concerned.”

  “Reputation is more important than my happiness? I love Mitch.”

  He spit out a rueful laugh, and regarded her as though she were the village idiot. “You can’t possibly be that naive. He only married you for my support.”

  The lengths he would go to, the things he would say to make her feel bad about herself, knew no bounds. But she knew exactly what this was about, even if he wouldn’t admit it. It had nothing to do with reputation or Mitch’s behavior at the party. He only wanted her to leave Mitch because she wanted to stay. He wanted control of her life back. Married to Mitch, he could no longer manipulate her. But this time she didn’t have to listen to him. “You really can’t stand it, can you?”

  “Stand what?”

  “To see me happy.”

  He scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “Then why would you say something like that to me? I say I love Mitch and you accuse him of using me?”

  “I said it because it’s true. You know that I’ve never believed in coddling you.”

  “How do you know Mitch hasn’t fallen in love with me?”

  He shook his head sadly, as though she were even more pathetic than he realized.

  “Do you believe I’m that horrible?” she asked. “That unlovable?”

  “I didn’t say that. But he isn’t right for you.”

  “A month ago you seemed to think he was.”

  “Well, I was wrong.”

  If he couldn’t accept that Mitch loved her, that was his problem, not hers. Mitch was going to be furious when he found out that her father had reneged on their deal, but she was pretty confident that he wouldn’t hold it against her.

  “Charade or not, I can’t end the marriage.”

  “Why not?”

  She shouldn’t say it, but as soon as she told Mitch the truth everyone would know anyway. “I’m pregnant.”

  “Pregnant?” The anger disappeared and to her surprise, a look of wonder overwhelmed his face. “I’m going to be a grandfather?”

  She had expected him to be furious. But it made sense that he would approve now that he was getting something he wanted out of the deal. And he had always wanted a grandson.

  She smiled and nodded.

  “That’s…incredible.”

  “We had even discussed naming him after you,” she said, even though they had done no such thing. They didn’t have a clue what the baby’s gender would be, much less what they planned to name it.

  But he seemed to buy it because he beamed with pride. “I suppose a divorce is out of the question now, but we can figure out a way to make it work.”

  She smiled, thinking it was time to go for the throat. “You can start by giving Mitch and Lance all the senatorial support they need.”

  His smile faded. “I can’t do that.”

  “You will if you want to see your grandchild.”

  He was so stunned that for a moment, he didn’t seem to know what to say. It was the first time she had ever seen him rendered speechless and she enjoyed every second of it. When he found his voice, he asked, his tone soaked in disbelief, “You would use your own child against me?”

  She sighed. “If I have to. Of course, I have plenty of other things I could hold against you.”

  “What things?”

  “Things that could make your life very difficult when you’re trying to get reelected.”

  The color leached from his face. “Did you just threaten to blackmail me?”

  She sure as hell did. For the first time in her life she stood up to him and it felt wonderful. She flashed him a “Bless your Heart” smile. “Daddy, blackmail sounds so…uncivilized. Up on Capitol Hill I believe they call it extortion.”

  “I can’t believe you would do this to me.”

  She shrugged. “I guess you could say that I learned from the master.”

  She waited for the anger, for him to explode, but to her surprise, it didn’t happen. He just stood there, perplexed, as though he simply could not grasp what had just happened. That his compliant little girl had finally grown a will of her own. God knows it was about damned time. Then the front door opened and Mitch walked through, the vestiges of a cool early-autumn breeze following him inside.

  “I thought that was your car outside,” he said to her father as he walked right past him without shaking his hand or anything, pulling Lexi into his arms and kissing her. “Sorry it took so long, sweetheart.”

  Long? He’d barely been gone an hour. She had assumed “meeting” meant maybe twenty minutes of business followed by a few hours of drinking and bullshitting with the guys. Sort of like her lunch with Kate, but with more profanity and testosterone.

  “Daddy stopped in to say hello,” she told him. “Wasn’t that nice?”

  He obviously knew something was up, and he played along, saying in a Southern drawl that she had never heard him use before, “Why, yes it was. Can I get you a drink, Senator?”

  “Unfortunately, he was just leaving,” Lexi said. “But thanks for stopping by, Daddy.”

  Looking shell-shocked and confused, her father mumbled goodbye and let himself out of the house. As soon as he was gone, Mitch turned to her and, the drawl gone, asked, “What the hell just happened?”

  Thirteen

  M itch lay in bed several hours later, Lexi against his side, her body warm and soft. He couldn’t stop smiling. “I wish I could have seen the look on his face when you threatened him. That must have been priceless.”

  “I keep waiting to feel guilty. I never dreamed of saying something like that to him. Instead, I feel…liberated.”

  “I don’t mean for this to sound condescending, but I’m proud of you,” he said, and he could feel her smile.

  “I’m proud of me, too. And I don’t think you ever have to worry about losing his support. It’s a real possibility that he won’t ever speak to me again, though.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “Not as bad as I expected. In a way, I kind of feel relieved. I don’t need him anymore.” She was quiet for a moment, then said, “Mitch, there’s something I need to tell you. Two things, actually.”

  He rolled on his side to look at her. “What?”

  “First, I lied to you. I said something really awful that wasn’t true.”

  He frowned. “What?”

  “It was the morning after we slept together in D.C. I thought…” She paused and bit her lip.

  “You thought what?”

  She took a deep breath. “I was so naive. I woke up, and I thought that you were going to beg me to marry you instead of Lance. I thought you…loved me. And you have no idea how long I’d waited for someone to feel that way about me. But the first thing you said that morning was that sleeping together had been a mistake. I was crushed. I lashed out and said the most awful thing I could think of.”

  “That you used me?”

  She nodded.

  In an odd way he was relieved, and at the same time it disturbed him. Not because she lied—he understood why she’d done it, and couldn’t really blame her—but because she had just cemented the fact that he had totally misjudged her.

  “I know we had barely spent a week together, but I loved you, Mitch. And I think…I think I still do.”

  He knew what she wanted, what she desperately needed, but as much as he wanted her to be happy, he couldn’t bring himself to lie to her. “I care for you, Lexi. I really do. I just can’t…”

  She rolled onto her back, but not before he saw her face fall, her happiness crumble. “I understand.”

  “It’s not you. It’s me.”
r />   She shrugged. “You don’t have to explain.”

  He waited for her to get angry, or to cry. To do something. But she just lay there quietly and he felt like the world’s biggest heel. She deserved better than this. Better than him. She should be with someone who loved her. Who was capable of love.

  “What else?” he asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “You said there were two things you had to tell me.”

  “Oh,” she said softly, turning away from him to lie on her side, pulling the covers up over her shoulder. “It wasn’t important.”

  He considered pushing the issue, but figured maybe he was best off not knowing. He lay awake for what felt like hours, marinating in his own guilt and self-loathing.

  When he woke in the morning and reached for Lexi, she wasn’t there. He got out of bed and pulled on his robe. He figured Lexi was downstairs in the kitchen making tea, but he found her in her bedroom, packing. She was leaving him.

  He was more disappointed than surprised. “Going somewhere?” he asked.

  She turned to him, looking tired and sad. “Good morning.”

  He doubted that. “You don’t have to do this.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  He had half a mind to beg her to stay, to swear that things would change, but that would just be cruel and selfish. The best thing he could do for Lexi was let her go.

  “Are you going back to your father?”

  “God, no. I would never give him the satisfaction.”

  “Good. He doesn’t deserve you. And don’t worry about money. I’ll see that you and the baby are set for life.”

  “I appreciate that, but I can’t spend the rest of my life with other people always taking care of me. I need to do this on my own.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “Tara said I can stay with her until I’m on my feet.”

  He was tempted to insist that she stay with him, at least until the baby was born. By then, the house would be ready and she could stay there. But if she needed to prove something to herself, he wasn’t going to stop her. Maybe she would realize how hard it was to be on her own, and come back to him.

  But Lexi was tough, and he had the feeling she would be just fine. He would miss her, and always care about her, but the truth was she deserved a better man than Mitch Brody, and he hoped someday she would find him.