His Billion Dollar Baby

by Lea Nolan

  Carter looked at her. For the first time he saw beyond his preconceptions and her obvious good looks to something more profound. Her character. She didn’t have to help Rocky. This kind of progress could only have been the result of many sustained therapy sessions. Perhaps she wasn’t the conniving gold digger he’d assumed. Perhaps she was actually a good person who just wanted to help his father.

  If that was true, he owed her an apology. And it had better be a good one.

  But it still didn’t solve the problem of the company shares and her child’s proxy. She might be decent, but that didn’t mean she knew how to run a company—his company—with any competence. He couldn’t let her control her child’s shares. Should he bring it up now? Ask her to sign the paperwork and get it over with? He wasn’t sure the timing was right.

  Rocky yawned and his lids began to droop.

  Gwen chuckled. “Ah, see, I told you chess would wear you out. I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s the hardest work we’ve done so far. That kind of focus takes a lot of energy.”

  Rocky winked at her.

  “Is that a challenge, old man? Okay, tomorrow we’ll go best three out of five. Don’t feel too confident. I’m going to brush up on my game and beat the pants off of you.” She laughed. “So you’d better rest up.”

  The slightest nod was Rocky’s affirmative. Remarkable. His father and Gwen communicated without words.

  Picking up the phone on the desk, Gwen punched three numbers. “Hi, Olivia. Mr. Anderson is finished for the evening. I think he’s ready for a little snack and then bed. And don’t worry, I worked him pretty hard so he shouldn’t give you too much trouble.” She playfully smirked at Rocky then hung up the receiver.

  A moment later, Olivia came into the den and took hold of his chair. As she pushed him out, Rocky lifted his left hand and managed a wave.

  “Goodnight, Mr. Anderson.” Gwen grasped his shoulder.

  After the nurse and his father had gone, Carter turned to her. “You two are quite a team.”

  He couldn’t help but be a little jealous of their interaction. His own relationship with Rocky had often been strained. As a boy, Carter constantly struggled to live up to his father’s example and expectations. He often wondered if Rocky ever realized how difficult it was to be a great man’s son. Ben had it easier. Disinterested in the family business, he avoided it altogether by joining the military and spending as much time as possible out of the country. But Carter didn’t have that luxury. As the oldest son, he’d been groomed to take over. When the time came, he did. In hindsight, the challenges of his youth had been valuable. They’d toughened him. Now, at only thirty-four, he ran a billion dollar company like a seasoned executive.

  Gwen shrugged. “We do get along well, but that’s only because your dad’s such a fun guy.”

  Fun? Of all the adjectives Carter might use to describe his father, that was probably the last. “How do you do it? I mean, how can you connect with someone who can’t talk or move?” As much as he had tried, Carter couldn’t do more for his father than lift him into his chair.

  Gwen picked up the playing pieces and arranged them in their case. “I don’t forget there’s a person in there. They might be way down deep inside, but they’re still there. When I first met him, it broke my heart to see he hadn’t engaged in the kind of care that would help him. I’m here every single night so I figured, why not try?”

  “Believe me, we had the best doctors money could buy. But none of them got through to him. You managed the impossible.” He sat at the game table.

  She shook her head as she took a seat. “Nah, he just decided he was ready. You know what they say about horses and water, right? You and your mother dragged him to a watering hole before he wanted a drink. I just got lucky with my timing.”

  “You underestimate yourself.”

  “Well, maybe the baby had something to do with it.”

  Earlier, he’d noticed the gentle curve of her stomach. It was slightly bigger then when they’d had their last argument. And it was beautiful. He had the strangest urge to place his hand on it, on her, and feel the life force growing within. Pushing the image from his mind he asked, “How so?”

  “We’ve set a goal in mind. He wants to hold his grandchild when it’s born. I’d say that’s a pretty great motivator, wouldn’t you?” There wasn’t a hint of malice or aggression in her voice, which was stunning considering their last ill-fated conversation centered around this very topic. Clearly, Rocky believed he was going to be a grandfather and this belief motivated his recovery. Judith had always been convinced it was the truth. If Carter was being honest, he suspected it as well and had begun to rethink his request for an early paternity test. Why else would Gwen have gone to all the trouble with Rocky? An average con artist wouldn’t bother bringing the dispirited man back to life. On the contrary, it would be far easier to encourage his further decline to get him out of the way.

  Did it really matter when the paternity test occurred? Couldn’t he wait until the child was born?

  He cleared his throat. “Gwen, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you, but I haven’t had the chance.” It wasn’t exactly the truth. He could have made time, but he had been too angry and distrustful to expend the effort. But now that he’d seen his father and Gwen’s remarkable impact on his recovery, things were different. Suddenly, he wanted to make things better with her, to find a middle ground so they could move forward. To what, he wasn’t sure, but he knew he didn’t want them to be enemies anymore.

  “Yes?” She tilted her head to the side.

  He leaned his forearms against the table top. “I’m sorry about the way our last conversation went.”

  “Me, too.” She crossed her arms, which only drew his attention to her rounded breasts.

  Boy, she wasn’t going to make this easy for him, was she?

  “You see, I was so torn up with grief over Ben’s death and worried about our family being scammed, I jumped to conclusions.”

  She nodded. “You did.”

  “What I’m trying to say is, while I don’t think it’s wrong to ask for a paternity test, I do think your concerns about the prenatal exams are valid. Since our conversation, I’ve looked into the risks and you’re right. There is a small but not insignificant risk of danger and that’s just not worth it. So I think it’s perfectly reasonable to wait until the child’s born. I should have realized that a couple weeks ago when we talked. I’m sorry I didn’t.”

  Her eyes brightened. “I’m glad you see it that way. And while I didn’t appreciate you using your mom to guilt me into taking the test, I’m still willing to do it. For her. And for your dad. I don’t ever want them to wonder whether Ben was the father.”

  Though he supposed he deserved it, it stung that she wouldn’t take the test for him. Avoiding her eyes, he looked down at the table. “For what it’s worth, I want it to be my niece or nephew, too.” His words were hushed.

  “It is.”

  He looked up and their gazes locked. Carter sensed an intimacy he’d never seen before. Her pupils dilated and the skin above her v-neck collar flushed a deeper shade of pink than normal. Suddenly, she looked away. “It’s not like there was anyone else.”

  His heart seized. Did she misunderstand something he had said? God, why did he have so much difficulty communicating with her? “I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.” He strained to make his words kind and not accusatory. Although Ben had never mentioned her, he no longer doubted that they’d been item, at least long enough to create a child.

  “No, I didn’t think so, it’s just…” Her voice trailed off and she gnawed her bottom lip. Shaking her head she finally uttered, “Forget it. It’s nothing. Just a poor attempt at humor. Or something.” She drummed the table with her fingers. “Anyway, what brought you out of your wing? You hardly ever make it to the main house these days, what with your galas and state dinners.”

  Why was she so concerned with his nighttime comings and goin
gs? Obviously she had the wrong impression of him. Damn magazines. Too bad they didn’t report the truth. Over the last month he’d been so consumed with developing a new tone and shape shoe line, he hadn’t had time to go out, much to the chagrin of D.C.’s professional fundraisers. And if he was being honest, her critique of his social life had made an impression, too. He didn’t like that she thought he was a wild party boy, even if he was one. That Carter wasn’t the real him, just the reactionary caricature of a newly-single, broken-hearted man.

  He shook his head. “Sorry to disappoint you, but those silly dinners have been the last thing on my mind.” He placed his hand on the rolled up schematics. They were the fruit of his hard labor, his next stroke of genius.

  “Really? Then what’s been occupying your time? You finally find a girl to settle down with?”

  The idea was so funny—and alien—he actually snorted. “No. I’ve got a company to run. Romance is the last thing on my mind.” Any semblance of a real relationship inevitably brought up painful memories of Deandra. He had no interest in repeating past mistakes. Hence, the rotating pageant of young, beautiful women. Each was happy with a few fancy dinners, but once a woman started looking for more, he moved on to the next.

  “Whatever’s happening at work must be pretty important if you’re forsaking those blond beauties of yours.”

  “Despite what you might think, my reputation is grossly exaggerated.” He tried to keep a straight face.

  “Uh huh.” Her brow arched.

  She was too damn smart to buy what he was selling. He tapped the bundled design blueprints. “This is what has kept me busy. It’s a new product line I’m convinced will be extremely profitable for Work It Gear. I came to talk to my mother about it.”

  “Oh, she’s gone to one of her charity events. It’s the first one she’s attended all year. Now that your dad’s doing better, Olivia and I convinced her to get out of the house. It was tough, but she finally agreed. She never wants to leave his side. It’s nice that you keep her in the loop with the company.”

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s not out of altruism, believe me. It’s required. Since my father’s illness and Ben’s death, she and I share control of Work It Gear. As such, she has to approve any new product line. I’m just hoping I can convince her to see its potential. Sometimes she doesn’t agree with my vision.” He scanned Gwen’s face for any indication that she knew her own baby would inherit a third of the company’s shares at birth. There was none. Instead she nodded as if he’d just explained that the sky was blue. It was so obvious it was hardly newsworthy. Perhaps he could trust her.

  As irrational as it seemed, he suddenly had the urge to show Gwen the real him, so she could see his true talent and understand what drove him. “Do you want to see the plans?” He waggled his brows.

  “Heck ya.” She beamed.

  He unrolled the schematics on the table. The Work It Gear Tone and Shaper was there in all its blueprint glory. Unlike previous shoes introduced by other companies, these weren’t just a marketing gimmick. They were ergonomically designed to tone and shape a walker’s calves, thighs and buttocks without stressing leg bones or endangering hip position. The secret was in the shape and design of the shoe’s base.

  Over the last month, he’d run hundreds of computer simulations, each predicting the shoes would deliver legitimate, quantifiable results when compared with a regular walking shoe. And, as an added bonus, they’d provide the wearer with a stunningly round and taut backside. These shoes had the potential to be revolutionary and enormously profitable for the company. The only problem was Judith’s resistance to products that appeared to have no purpose other than to titillate or promote sexual objectification of women. Old-fashioned, she believed her job was to preserve Rocky’s philosophy and business ethos. If she thought the shoes were too sexy, or were no benefit to improving the walker’s athleticism, she might very well veto the idea. But if Gwen saw their worth, she might be willing to help sway Judith’s decision in his direction.

  She scanned the design, flipping through the pages. It was clear she was thinking hard, analyzing the ridge design of the heel and assessing its implications. After a few long minutes she finally said, “You know, with a few modifications these could be the biggest breakthrough for wounded soldiers since the prosthetic leg.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  That was completely unexpected. And extremely intriguing. Carter tilted his head. “How could this help wounded veterans?”

  Gwen pointed to the sole. “You see these ridges here? And the width over here? If you made a few tweaks to the arch and heel, and over here at the outer edge, you’d create one of the sturdiest shoes around. But not only that, you’d build a shoe that would stabilize wounded soldiers’ gaits.”

  “How would it do that?”

  She grabbed a pencil from the desk and pointed at the schematics. “All you’d need to do is widen the sole a few millimeters here, lift the arch a stitch and then flatten this lift. See that?” she asked, then put the pencil down. “Soldiers who’ve lost a leg have to get used to walking on their prosthetic. Right now, we stick their healthy leg in a regular sneaker and fit their prosthetic into a matching shoe. That regular sneaker doesn’t do anything to help propel their prosthetic forward.” She tapped the design. “But this shoe could, making it easier to walk, and making them safer by stabilizing their gait. I bet it would also help alleviate lower back pain and more evenly distribute the burden on their legs. If a soldier loses his left leg, the right overcompensates to carry the load. It messes up their back and sometimes throws the good leg out of torque.”

  Carter stared at the design schematics. How had she seen that so quickly? How had he and his design staff missed it? He’d shown the plans to a handful of bio-engineers at Work It Gear, run the ergonomics tests alongside them, but none had seen this possibility. Sure, she was a clinician and dealt with injured soldiers every day, probably helped them adjust to their new limbs on a regular basis, but she’d seen the design’s potential almost instantly and suggested modifications almost as quickly. It was extraordinary. Or maybe, she was extraordinary. Beauty and brains in one stunning package.

  “Do you really think a shoe could do that?” he asked, still astounded.

  Gwen nodded. “Yes, absolutely. Not as they’re currently designed. You’d need to make those adjustments. But it’s pretty clear you’d have a great new product on your hands. Why? What were you planning to use these for?”

  Carter was almost afraid to tell her. What if she thought he was just trying to exploit women? “It’s a tone and shaper.”

  She scoffed. “You mean a thigh and butt firmer? You know they don’t really work.”

  Pride and self-assurance swelled. “This one will. We’ve already run the tests to prove it. It’ll make Work It Gear a mint.”

  Gwen shrugged. “Okay, if that’s what you want.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Work It Gear’s seems like it’s doing pretty well as it is. But here you’ve got an opportunity to make something that will actually help people, not just sculpt their backsides.” She grinned.

  It was as if she’d opened a window to his soul. Could one of his ideas go beyond merely raking in cash to making a real, tangible difference? He stared hard at the schematics. If they shifted gears, tweaked the design a bit, this could be his opportunity to create something truly meaningful for the first time since he’d taken the helm. Over the years he’d developed scores of new products and made the company a lot of money, but none of those other products had much heart.

  His most successful items were the sexy ones, color coordinated outfits that fit snug and accentuated the wearer’s musculature and curves. They looked fantastic, but in the scheme of things, did they matter? Did they make a difference in the buyer’s life? To his mind, the answer was an overwhelming no. But if Gwen was right, these shoes would be different. Not only could he manufacture them to be aesthetically beautiful, but they’
d speed wounded soldiers’ recovery and improve their well-being. That was unique.

  The irrepressible business side of his brain approved as well. If these shoes were a success they could lead to a lucrative contract with the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs Administration. Plus, such an altruistic design would have no trouble passing the Judith test.

  Carter made an executive decision. He would develop this new shoe, and he wanted Gwen involved. “Would you mind helping me configure the changes? I’ve got a staff full of designers who didn’t see what you did. I don’t want to leave the modifications up to them.”

  She laughed. “Sure. I can work from these sketches.”

  “No, we’ve got a design lab at the office. If you don’t mind, we could do it there.”

  “Oh. Um, that sort of sounds like fun. But I’m not sure when I could meet you there. I mean, I’m at Walter Reed all week and then I come straight home to work with your dad.”

  “Are you free this weekend?” he asked, impatient to get started, and frankly, thrilled by the idea of doing something productive with her.

  “I’ve got no life. Of course I’m free.” She chuckled. “The better question is whether you’re available. There’s got to be someone waiting for your call.”

  He shook his head. “Nope. But even if there was, I’m clearing my schedule. I haven’t been this excited about work in a long time. How about I pick you up in the dining room tomorrow morning after breakfast?”

  She grinned. “Sounds great.”

  …

  Carter parked in the empty underground parking lot of Work It Gear’s Rockville headquarters, then ushered Gwen up the shiny glass and steel elevator to the top floor. The doors opened to one of the nicest executive suites she had ever seen. Not that she’d been in many, but its sleek contemporary lines, black granite, chrome fixtures, and leather furniture reeked of modern corporate elegance. The only pop of color was the company’s red barbell logo on the wall.