“Really?” Daniel said again, cracking a huge smile when Marie drooled on him.
Christine was having trouble breathing. Daniel wasn’t looking at Marie like she was a mistake or an accident. He was treating her as a perfectly normal fourteen-month-old baby. Was it wrong to want that?
No. It wasn’t. It was the whole reason Christine was here with this man that she still did not trust.
Then Daniel leaned down and rested his cheek on the top of Marie’s head. Christine saw him breathe deeply and she knew what he was smelling—Marie’s sweet baby scent. Daniel sighed and in that moment, he looked so different from the man who had walked into the bank a week ago that she wouldn’t have recognized him. He didn’t look hard and sharp. He looked...
He looked perfect.
No. It was probably an act. She didn’t believe he felt a responsibility for her and Marie. She absolutely could not let herself buy into whatever fiction he presented. She could not be seduced by tenderness or a chiseled jaw—or any combination of the two.
Marie finished the book and squirmed off his lap to go back to cruising around the table. Daniel watched her for a moment and then turned his eyes to Christine’s. Heat flashed through her body, an awareness that she didn’t want but couldn’t seem to ignore. What was wrong with her?
“Where were we?”
Right. Yes. The point—that had nothing to do with the way her skin warmed under his gaze. “Neither my ex-fiancé nor my father has any contact with us.”
A change came over his face. It didn’t matter how cuddly he’d looked—he was still a weapon that could be used against her.
“And just so we’re clear, do you have any interest in publicly reconciling with your father?”
“Why? He’ll want me to repent, tell everyone I’ve seen the light and that his way is the one true way. He’ll want me to go to campaign events and dress Marie as a little princess. He might even want me to get married—to someone he approves of, of course—so that Marie is no longer illegitimate.” Christine shuddered at the thought of the man her father would approve of. “No. I’m not interested in being a bullet point in a fund-raising email or his mouthpiece and they cannot have my daughter.”
He considered this statement for so long that she began to fidget. “It might shield you from some of the worst of it.”
Was he seriously trying to talk her into this? “Let’s say I go along with this insanity. I get an image makeover and follow my father’s path. I marry someone who ‘redeems’ me. Then what? God forbid my father actually wins the election. Instead, he’ll probably lose. Will he blame me for it again? Or—more likely—I’ll break one of his rules. I always do, just by existing. Then what? Another public shaming? No.”
Daniel was staring at her and she knew she needed a thicker skin. She knew that this was probably the most sympathetic audience she would get. But he was unnerving her anyway.
God, she was so tired of being judged. “You don’t know what it’s like,” she went on bitterly, “never being good enough. Maybe if I’d been born a boy, it would’ve been different. But I can’t change the fact that, in his eyes, I am marked by sin. You wouldn’t understand.”
And then she realized what she had just said—and who she had said it to. Maybe Daniel Lee, the political consultant, couldn’t understand. But Daniel Lee, the illegitimate son of Hardwick Beaumont, might. “I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I didn’t mean...”
One corner of his mouth curved up. “It’s perfectly fine. I do understand—I had a complicated relationship with my grandfather. I never knew my father.” He said it so casually, as if being cut off from half of his heritage was no big deal.
Marie was going to grow up like that, too. She would never know Doyle or Doyle’s family. They wanted nothing to do with either of them. Marie picked up on her distress and looked up, her lower lip quivering.
“I’m sorry,” Christine repeated, smiling big to show her daughter that all was well. “That was rude of me. I... Well, I don’t know anything about you and I think you know a lot about me and this is the most awkward thing ever, isn’t it?”
He shrugged, somehow managing to look nonchalant and glamorous at the same time. He really was unfortunately hot. Hot and patient with small children and inexplicably offering to protect her. If circumstances weren’t what they were, she could easily develop a huge crush on the man.
She’d always liked boys. Always. And the more her father had scolded her about her clothes, her attitude and especially her boyfriends, the more attractive boys had become.
Once, a lifetime ago, she’d started sneaking out of the house when she was fourteen. She’d been smoking by fifteen, drinking by then, too. And the boys...
But as she squirmed under Daniel’s direct gaze, she realized that he was nothing like the boys she’d run wild with. He wasn’t a boy in any sense of the word. Tall and lean, his hair that unusual mahogany color—so beautiful it was almost painful to look at him straight on—yeah, he was way hotter than any of the boys from her teen years.
But Daniel’s appeal went way beyond his physical attributes. Because all of those guys she’d dated in high school and college—none of them would have stood by her side when the crap hit the fan. Doyle certainly hadn’t—and Doyle had been a pretty good guy. He’d paid his part of the bills and asked her to marry him and joked about her crazy dad with her. Sure, he hadn’t made her wild with lust—but she’d always chalked that up to maturity. She’d gotten tired of fighting her father’s dictates and she’d settled down.
What if it hadn’t been maturity? What if it’d just been exhaustion?
Oh, it would be too easy to lust after this man. So she decided she wouldn’t. “Look, Mr. Lee—”
He interrupted her. “Call me Daniel, Christine.”
She didn’t want to. It felt too intimate, to say his name like that. It was definitely too intimate to hear her name on his lips and intimacy was the last thing she needed if she was going to not lust after him.
She knew she was blushing and she was completely powerless to stop it. What she wouldn’t give to face this man with cool indifference.
Then Marie piped up. “Daniel Tiger!” she said, looking up at Daniel with wild enthusiasm.
At least, that was what Marie meant. Christine had no trouble understanding her even if her pronunciation left something to be desired.
But that’s not what Daniel heard. His eyes got wide as Marie banged on the top of the coffee table, warming to her theme and repeated “anal grr!” in a volume that was just short of a tornado siren.
“What did she say?” Daniel said, staring at Christine in shock. His cheeks had darkened as she got the distinct feeling he was trying not to laugh.
“Daniel Tiger. It’s one of her favorite shows.” When he blinked, she added, “He was a minor character on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood? They animated him and gave him his own show. She loves it.”
“Daniel Tiger!” Marie screeched even louder. It still came out sounding like “anal grr!” though.
Daniel blinked a few more times, his eyes getting wider and wider. Then he hid his mouth behind his hand. “Kids say the darndest things?”
He was completely flustered, Christine realized. All it took was a fourteen-month-old with a lisp to knock him completely out of his groove. She allowed herself to smile as she wondered how many people got to see him like this. She was tempted to let Marie keep going—and she knew her daughter could—but time was of the essence.
“Honey,” she said to Marie, “why don’t you read me a story while Mr. Lee and I keep talking?”
For a moment, she thought her daughter would balk but then she spotted a Pat the Bunny book. She slid along the coffee table and cuddled into Christine’s arms, ready to tell some long-winded story about a bunny that even Christine wouldn’t be able to understand.
“Sorry for the interruptions. This is life with a toddler.”
Daniel still had his mouth hidden behind his hand, but she
could tell he was grinning wildly. “Not a problem. Although it would probably be best if we didn’t let her say that near any microphones.”
She wanted to laugh but the mention of microphones reminded her why she was here. “You don’t think I’m a bad person for letting her watch television, do you? Or is that the sort of thing people will say makes me an unfit mother?”
The smile fell away from his eyes as his hand fell away from his mouth. “I’m sure there are a few sanctimonious idiots who’d make that case. But in reality, letting a young child watch an age-appropriate television show while you cook dinner or breakfast, I assume, is what most everyone does.”
Marie looked up at her and Christine said, “Oh, really?” which was what Marie wanted to hear. She turned the page and kept on telling her story.
“It won’t matter if that’s what almost everyone else does. It’ll still get twisted around.” Christine exhaled heavily. “What should I do? I’d really rather not quit my job and go on the lam.”
“Are you seeing anyone now?”
The question caught her off guard. “Oh, yes—in all of my free time, I have an exciting social life where I juggle countless men effortlessly.” The corner of his mouth quirked up again but she was absolutely not looking at that smile. “This is it. I go to church. That’s my social life. Even if I had time to date, finding a man who doesn’t consider my daughter a roadblock to romance is challenging.” His piercing stare made her nervous. “Why? You’re not going to suggest that I get a boyfriend, are you? Or...”
He wasn’t about to suggest that he become her boyfriend, was he? Because a man she didn’t trust offering to protect her from a media frenzy by pretending to be a romantic interest—that seemed like a setup.
“Absolutely not,” he said quickly. “That would only add fuel to the fire. No, I don’t want you to find a boyfriend or a fiancé. Instead, I want you to keep doing what you always do.”
“You want me to be boring?”
Something deepened in his eyes and, fool that she was, she wanted to think it was approval. “I want you to be the most boring person in the world, Christine.” More flutters set off along her stomach at the way he said her name, but she ignored them. “The news cycle moves fast—even faster than it did two years ago. Doing anything interesting—including suddenly developing a love life—would only prolong your time in the spotlight.”
They were back to awkward again. Because there was no way to convince her it wasn’t awkward to have a man casually dismissing the possibility of her social life. Even though she knew he was right. “Got it. No fun.”
He looked almost sympathetic at that. “You’re not going to like this next part.”
“I haven’t liked any part so far.”
He dropped his gaze and looked guilty again. It was unsettling. “I’ve already taken a number of steps to insulate you from the worst of the damage.”
He was right. She didn’t like the sound of that. “What kind of steps?”
Marie demanded her attention. When Christine looked back at Daniel, he was staring at her again. He needed to stop doing that. She was already struggling to not lust after him and having him look like he actually cared what happened to her wasn’t helping. “I’ve arranged with a freelance journalist to flood the internet with articles that will drive down less positive articles about you in the search results. I’ve set up a phone number and email address so your phone at work isn’t ringing off the hook and I’ve assigned a twenty-four-hour security detail to you.”
She gaped at him, stunned. “You did what?”
For a moment, he looked uncomfortable. “I also know the names of the people currently tailing you and I’m working to make sure they leave you alone. I’ve already had one of them arrested on an outstanding warrant, but someone else will replace him, I’m sure.”
She began to shake again with impotent anger. Which part of this was worse—the fact that he’d “taken the liberty” to set up phone numbers in her name or that the people who had been following her and Marie were the kind of people who had outstanding warrants?
None of it was good. “You did all of that without my permission?”
“Yes.”
“After I told you to leave me alone?”
He didn’t look away. “Yes.”
She stood abruptly, gathering Marie to her chest. “Explain to me again why I’m supposed to trust you?”
He stood as well, his hands in his pockets. He looked contrite, but it was probably an act. “You need me, Christine.”
“That’s no explanation at all.” Marie started to fuss. Christine grabbed her puffy coat and shoved the little girl’s arms into it. “Why did you even ask me to meet with you, if you weren’t going to listen to me anyway? God, I am so tired of other people deciding for me.”
She spun on her heels to walk away, but Daniel’s hand closed around her arm, bringing her to a halt. She could feel the warmth of his body heat through her sweater but it didn’t matter. None of it mattered. “Let me go.”
“Christine.”
Then she made the mistake of looking at him. His eyes—they were huge and pleading and she didn’t see dishonesty there. Why was the one man who gave a damn about her the one who’d ruined her life? It wasn’t fair.
“And stop saying my name like that, darn it.”
He was genuinely confused. “Like what?”
“Like I mean something to you. Because I don’t. We don’t. Stay away from me, Mr. Lee. Stop trying to rescue me from your own guilt.”
She jerked away from him and this time, he didn’t stop her. Marie looked back over her shoulder as Christine all but ran for the stairs and called out, “anal grr!” as she waved goodbye.
Christine was so mad that she struggled to keep the tears from spilling over as she rushed out to her car. Because she couldn’t cry. Someone might be watching. Doing something as unforgivably human as having a bad day would doom Christine to yet more hell on earth.
So, despite her anger and frustration and the sheer hopelessness, she kept a big smile pasted on her face, just in case someone was watching. Even if that someone was Daniel Lee. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d upset her.
He was perfect and he was one hundred percent wrong and somehow, he was both of those things at the exact same time. He’d gotten her into this mess and she wanted nothing more than for him to make it go away, too.
But only fools clung to hopes and prayers and Christine was done being made the fool by any man. No more.
God, she hoped she never saw that man again.
Five
Over the course of the next week, Daniel tried to stop thinking about Christine.
He couldn’t, actually. Because even though his actions had infuriated her, he still couldn’t bring himself to abandon her to the winds of fate. She didn’t have to like it and she didn’t have to like him. But he was not going to let her be dragged through the muck and he especially was not going let Marie be dragged. The little girl was too innocent—and too helpless.
So he tried to think about her as a client—a non-paying one, but still, one who required a high level of personalized service without any active involvement in...anything.
It didn’t work. Because although he was usually perfectly able to separate his personal life from his business endeavors, he was struggling this time.
He couldn’t stop thinking about the way Christine had looked at him during their meeting—cautious and wary, then warm and happy when her little girl had mangled an animated tiger’s name. Repeatedly. That smile—God. And she had no idea what she did to him, either.
It’d been a long time since he’d felt this kind of attraction to a woman. And even then, it wasn’t the same. This wasn’t merely an awareness of Christine on a sexual level. He was concerned about her. He wanted to make up for what he’d done, yes—but he didn’t just want to shield her from the fallout. He wanted...
Hell, he didn’t know what he wanted. So
mething more from her.
And he couldn’t stop thinking about Marie, either. He hadn’t expected how deeply it would affect him to hold the little girl on his lap and smell her baby smell and listen to her babble at him.
So, yeah—he was going to keep right on protecting the Murray women, whether Christine liked it or not. If anything happened to Marie because of something he’d started two years ago, he wasn’t sure he could live with himself.
The hell of it was, he’d always been able to live with himself. So what was it about Christine and her daughter that was different? Had he gone soft?
If he was being honest, the situation struck a chord with him. Because the truth was, he knew what it was to grow up with a shadow permanently following him. Every time his mother had put him on the airplane to fly to Korea for the summer, he’d had to lock a part of himself away in a small box where his grandfather wouldn’t be able to get to him.
He’d had to. His grandfather would never let Daniel forget that he was a bastard. As if Daniel had any choice in the matter. He hadn’t, but that hadn’t saved him from the old man’s ire. No matter what he had done, no matter how hard he had worked, he had always been a stain on the Lee family honor.
He didn’t want that for Marie. And if White or someone else made that child into a campaign issue, the stain of her birth—the stain Daniel had made—would follow her for the rest of her life. Those internet stories would never die. Marie would never have the chance to be her own person instead of the person everyone had already decided she was.
Just like he had made an executive decision two years ago about who Christine Murray was—a wild child, an embarrassment to her father’s name. She’d been a liability. He’d turned up the witnesses with stories of parties and drinking. He’d dug up the truth about her pregnancy and he had constructed a fiction around those things—an out-of-control girl who was a risk to everyone around her.
She’d spent the last year and a half trying to live down that reputation. All because of him.
Billionaire's Baby Promise (Mills & Boon Desire) (Billionaires and Babies, Book 79) Page 5