Billionaire's Baby Promise (Mills & Boon Desire) (Billionaires and Babies, Book 79)

by Sarah M. Anderson

  That was the wrong thing to say. But he wasn’t sure what the right thing would have been. She took in a shuddering breath and stepped back. “You shouldn’t look at me like that.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like...that.” She waved her hand in the air, as if that magically explained anything. The color rose in her cheeks. “You know.”

  “No, I don’t.”

  Now she waved both hands in the air, looking like a panicked bird. “You’re being intentionally obtuse. You shouldn’t look at me like you like me because we both know you don’t.”

  Now it was his turn to blink at her in wonder. “Whatever gave you that idea?”

  “Seriously?”

  “Putting aside the events of several years ago—”

  She snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”

  Daniel pressed on, undeterred. “When have I given you the impression at any point in the last several weeks that I don’t like you?”

  He really was trying to understand. And failing.

  “You can stop making fun of me now.” She turned to walk out of the bedroom.

  “Christine.”

  Eight

  He put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. “I am not making fun of you.”

  “Aren’t you? What other possible explanation could there be?”

  He stepped close enough to brush her hair away from her cheek. “Has it ever occurred to you that I’m attracted to you?”

  He didn’t know how he’d expected her to react to that statement—but barking out a bitter laugh wasn’t it. “Oh, that’s rich. How could a man like you be attracted to a woman like me?”

  Daniel stared at her in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

  She spun away from him again, but she didn’t head for the door. She began to pace in small circles next to the bed. “Really? Do you have to make me say it out loud?”

  “Christine. Do you mind explaining what you think I’m thinking? Because I think I’m thinking something completely different from what you think I’m thinking.” He shook his own head at that linguistic nightmare, no matter how true it was.

  She rolled her eyes at him. “I’m no supermodel—I never have been. I haven’t lost the baby weight, either. And look at you. You’re so handsome it hurts to watch you play with Marie. And you own a private jet and this condo with this view—clearly, you are richer than sin while I struggle to make rent and day care every month.”

  “I don’t care about any of that,” he put in quietly, but she ignored him.

  “I’m impulsive and unnatural. I can’t follow the rules and I never do the right thing. I don’t even know if coming here with you was the right thing or the most spectacularly stupid thing in a long line of stupid things.” She glared at him. “And you shouldn’t try to make me think that you like me, that you could even like Marie. It’s not fair to her.” She dropped her gaze, looking defeated. “To either of us.”

  “He was wrong.”

  She jerked her head up, her eyes wide. “What?”

  “Your father. He was wrong about you. If it’s any consolation, he’s wrong about everything, but most especially you.” This time, he didn’t just stroke his fingertips over her cheek. He cupped her face in his hands so she had no choice but to look at him. “You listen to me, Christine Murray. You were a teenager. All teenagers are impulsive. But that’s not who you are now. I don’t care what he says about you. Because the woman you are now would do anything to protect her daughter. The woman you are now is kind and thoughtful and cautious. You’re the only person trying to play by the rules and if you don’t let me help you, those rules will crush you. And I can’t stand by and watch that happen.”

  He slid his hands down her shoulders and over her back, letting them settle around her waist. “I don’t give a damn about the baby weight or how much you do or do not earn. I don’t define your worth by your size. I define it by your actions and your actions tell me you’re a woman that I could...”

  That he could what? Trust with his own secrets? She didn’t trust him and it wasn’t any smarter for him to trust her.

  Her eyes shone and she swallowed nervously. “Why are you saying these things to me?”

  He bent his head down to meet hers. “Because I do like you.”

  This time, she didn’t pull away. This time, he kissed her—slow and gentle at first and then, when her lips parted and welcomed him, with more heat.

  Daniel had always been something of a monk. While women had always been plentiful and available, he hadn’t trusted them.

  In America, he was tall, dark and mysterious. In Korea, he had a hint of exoticism to him. Despite many offers, he’d taken very few lovers. When he was younger, he’d been convinced his grandfather was behind every come-on. He’d avoided dating and sex simply because he hadn’t wanted to be trapped by the old man’s notions of honor and duty. And then, when he began his career as a political operative, he’d gotten even more cautious, unwilling to let a one-night stand turn out to be a political liability.

  So, it’d been a while. A long while. And when Christine sighed into his mouth and her arms came around his neck, he was almost overwhelmed by the sweetness of it all. She still tasted faintly of the ginger ale she’d drunk on the plane, but underneath that was a taste of warmth and even familiarity. He curled his fingers into her hips, pulling her closer. Her curves felt right against his chest, under his hands. He hardened as she softened against him.

  Kissing Christine Murray was like finally coming home.

  Then she pushed him away. Chest heaving, she closed her eyes. “Did you bring me here to seduce me?”

  There was a part of him that wanted to tell her not to be so suspicious. There really weren’t any ulterior motives behind the kiss, behind any of it.

  But she was still Christine Murray and Daniel had to face the fact that if she was suspicious, it was because he’d made her that way.

  And, just like that, they were right back to where they started. He stepped away, knowing there was nothing he could say to convince her. So he didn’t. Instead, he motioned to the bed. “If you’d like to change, I had some things brought up for you. Don’t worry about Marie. I’m sure my mom’s having the time of her life with her. When you have the chance to...recover, we can reconvene and discuss the situation.”

  Her lips twisted and he couldn’t tell if she was grimacing in frustration or trying not to laugh. “And which situation would that be?”

  “Whichever situation you’d like it to be.” With that, he turned and walked out.

  He stopped in the kitchen to get his thoughts in order. This wasn’t like him. He did not get personally involved. He did not bring people back to his apartment. And he never introduced women to his mother.

  And yet, here they all were. He could hear his mom cooing with Marie and he knew that, when he went in to check on them in a few moments, his mother would ask about Christine.

  Running a political campaign meant ignoring rules in favor of bigger and better stories, higher polling numbers, and victories. Especially victories. Christine hadn’t been a part of her father’s campaign until Daniel had made her a part of it. But he never could’ve predicted that it would have led to this.

  Because he hadn’t lied. He did like her. She was handling this horrible situation with a surprising amount of grace. Unlike her own father, she was fiercely loyal to her daughter. And she was beautiful. She was soft and curved in all the right places and she made him ache. Like right now, he thought darkly as he adjusted his trousers. He ached for her.

  In his time, he’d lusted. But that was sex. This? This was something else.

  Dimly, he was aware that she was exactly the kind of woman who would have given his grandfather an apoplectic stroke. Christine was too blonde, too blue-eyed, too outspoken and far too American to have ever satisfied Lee Dae-Won. Was that part of her appeal? Was he still trying to irritate the old man?

  This should have been a simple job of salvagi
ng a woman’s reputation and shielding an infant from the media. Daniel should’ve manipulated the web rankings and guarded her apartment without caring for her. Hell, he could’ve done what he’d always done—operate behind the scenes, in secrecy, pulling the strings as he saw fit.

  But he hadn’t. Instead, he’d walked right into that bank of hers and made his intentions known. He’d gone to her church and flown her to Chicago and installed her in his own personal guestroom instead of a nice hotel under an assumed name. And now he had to go into the living room and watch his mother fall in love with Marie.

  He had never in his life made such a mess of things and the hell of it was, even knowing it would only get messier, he wasn’t sure he’d change any of it.

  Because he had kissed her and because she had kissed him back and it had felt like home.

  He grabbed a sparkling water from the fridge and went to check on his mother. She was kneeling next to the coffee table and Marie, as usual, was cruising around the edges. A plate with sliced fruit and a sippy cup half full of milk were within reach. Marie looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and his mother had a matching smile upon her face. She didn’t even look up when he entered the room. As he removed his coat and loosened his tie, she said to him in Korean, “Is she all right?”

  Daniel collapsed into a chair. Truthfully, he didn’t know. “She’s had a long day,” he replied in Korean.

  His mother slanted him a knowing look. “Did you tell her you were going to introduce her to me?”

  Busted. “No...”

  His mother leaned over and patted him on the knee. Marie saw this and decided to do the same, lurching toward Daniel’s knees.

  Minnie clucked at him. “She’s been through quite a lot.”

  Daniel sighed heavily and caught Marie up in his arms. Marie giggled, which made him feel like he was doing something right. “She’s been through a lot because of me.”

  Minnie came to her feet. “Did she know you were bringing her here?”

  Shame heated his cheeks. His mother was the only person who could inspire this reaction in him. He had long ago learned that pissing off his grandfather was a victory and he certainly didn’t give a damn what anyone else thought. But a single look from Minnie Lee and he was a misbehaving kid all over again. “I’m just trying to keep her safe. I didn’t think she’d come if she knew I was bringing her here.”

  His mother stroked Marie’s hair with such tenderness that Daniel wished he could be someone else. A more dutiful son, at least. The kind of man who would’ve settled down and given his mother the grandchildren she desperately wanted.

  Marie obviously knew who was the soft touch in the room. She looked up at Minnie and then, grinning wildly, reached up her hands in a gesture that even Daniel knew meant she wanted to be picked up. Minnie was only too happy to oblige. She began to sing an old song in Korean, one that Daniel hadn’t heard in years, Santoki—a song about a bunny.

  Daniel thought he was off the hook, but when his mother reached the end of the first verse, she paused and looked back at him. “You have to trust her if you want her to trust you.” She said it in English, which somehow made it worse.

  “I do trust her,” he replied, also in English. “I trusted her enough to bring her here, didn’t I?”

  His mother shook her head, a small gesture that still spoke loudly of her disappointment with his answer. She had never been one to bluster, like her own father had been. She was a quiet woman who lived a quiet life surrounded by fellow Korean Americans in her adopted city. Sometimes, Daniel forgot that she had been a young girl who left home and carved out a place for herself in a strange country. She had raised her son on her own, more or less. She had found her place in this world, straddling two cultures with apparent ease.

  So why did he feel like he didn’t belong anywhere?

  “You must trust her with the truth, Dae-Hyun.”

  His phone chimed again—he had ignored reality for long enough. “I have some things I need to do,” he said, glancing at the screen. Crap. It was Brian White. Again. Had someone connected him and Christine?

  If his mother was disappointed by Daniel’s announcement, she didn’t show it. Instead, she said, “Don’t you worry about us. Come along, Miss Marie.” She began singing the bunny song again as she carried Marie over to the windows.

  When they were out of earshot, Daniel answered the call. “I’m still not interested.”

  Brian let loose with a string of curse words. “Where the hell is she?” he finished, sputtering.

  All right, so Daniel had not had the foresight to get to Marie’s father first. But he had the distinct satisfaction of having pulled a fast one on Brian White.

  “Who?” he asked in as innocent a voice as he could manage.

  “You know goddamned well who—Christine Murray. Where is she?”

  “I don’t know. I would assume that she’s at work?” It was a challenge to keep the humor out of his voice.

  “Don’t try that bullshit with me, Lee. She’s disappeared off the face of the earth and I can only think of one person would have a vested interest in hiding her and that’s you. So where is she?”

  Daniel couldn’t remember ever having this much fun. “You all right?” he asked, trying not to overdo the innocent tone. “You don’t sound good.”

  “Answer the goddamn question. Someone has been burying the lede on internet stories. Someone has had private investigators roughing up my associates. And now someone has helped that girl fall off the face of the earth.”

  “Oh, are you talking about the Murray girl?”

  Brian let loose with another string of obscenities.

  “I told you I was out,” Daniel said, letting anger seep into his voice.

  “You better be. If I find out you’re working for Rosen...”

  That was it. “Is that a threat?” Because he was not going to let this man act like he still pulled the strings.

  Brian must’ve finally recognized the warning in Daniel’s tone. “Don’t mess with me on this, Lee. I’m running a campaign for Clarence Murray and my employer has requested that I bring his daughter in for a chat.”

  “I’m skimming the search results now—it seems like someone beat you to the punch with her ex.” It probably wasn’t wise to pour salt into the wound, but Daniel felt a powerful need to remind Brian he was not all-knowing. “You’re slipping, Brian. It’s not like you.”

  “You’re nothing but a bastard, Lee. A bastard through and through.”

  “Name-calling isn’t very original, Brian.” Even if it was true. “I’m out. I’m not working for you and I’m not working for Rosen and even if I knew where the Murray girl was, I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “I will find her and I will bring her back into the fold. That’s a promise. I just hope, for your sake, I don’t find her with you.”

  That was most definitely a threat. In a perverse way, Daniel took pride in it. It meant that, despite the fact that he and Brian had worked together for a dozen years on political campaigns across the country, Brian had never figured out the extent of Daniel’s wealth and power.

  “I’ll say this one more time—I’m out. But if you bother me again, I’ll be back in and you won’t like what happens next.”

  “You forget that I know your secrets,” Brian sneered.

  And the truth was, he probably believed that. He would be only too happy to smear Daniel’s name in the press, linking him to dozens of dirty campaign tricks over the years. It might be bad press for the Beaumont Brewery—but then again, there was no such thing as bad press.

  Trust her with the truth. That’s what his mother had said. But she couldn’t honestly mean everything. Maybe—maybe—Christine would understand his family history. But things like owning the majority of Lee Enterprises? He’d watched her struggle to get her mind wrapped around his plane and his condo. He’d listened to her explain in excruciating detail why she wasn’t good enough for him.

  He didn’t know how much
more truth Christine Murray could handle, frankly.

  Brian, on the other hand, needed a reality check in the worst sort of way. “And I know yours. Don’t make me bury you.” He hung up.

  He sat there, trying to look at the forest and all of the trees. He tried to envision the strings he’d need to pull to get the outcome he preferred.

  But instead of mentally mapping out the playing field, his thoughts kept turning back to Christine. To the warm way her flesh had molded against his, to the sweet taste of her against his mouth. To the way he’d wanted more.

  No. He couldn’t afford to let himself get distracted now, not if Brian was already suspicious.

  It was time to take this to the next level. Daniel made the call. “Natalie? When can you get to Chicago?”

  Nine

  This was ridiculous. Christine stared down at what was most likely several thousand dollars–worth of clothing from a department store she had never visited.

  Ridiculous.

  At least this time, she wasn’t hiding in the ladies’ room. She was hiding in the guest room. It made all the difference in the world.

  She knew these were designer labels—Tahari, Calvin Klein—for pity’s sake, there was even a silk Gucci top in the mix. These brands cost more than her rent for a month. Heck, even more than day care for Marie. And the bag of makeup from MAC and Chanel? In colors that would look good on her?

  And it all just magically appeared because Daniel made some calls. Because Daniel liked her.

  She couldn’t believe that. Obviously, he had more money than she could comprehend. He owned homes in at least two countries, had his own private jet, and this condo was the kind of place that didn’t come cheap. Just like the clothing.

  She touched the Gucci top, letting the cool silk slip over her fingers. The tags had all been removed, but she was willing to bet this top alone was worth at least five hundred dollars, maybe more.

  In other words, it was not the kind of top a dumpy single mom wore. Marie would destroy this thing within seconds, if not sooner.