by Tessa Radley
She rose to her feet. “The baby is in the nursery.”
“I know—I have already been to visit her.”
Annoyance flared. She had not been consulted. “They let you in?”
The staff would have to be told he was not welcome in the future—she wouldn’t put it past him to try and take the baby. This was a man accustomed to getting his own way. But not this time.
Some indefinable emotion glimmered deep in the deceptively clear depths of his eyes. “Keira and Dmitri were with me—they vouched for me.”
“Keira’s here?”
Had her sister had second thoughts since Jo had spoken to her?
Yevgeny was shaking his head. “They’ve gone. Dmitri has quite a bit to finalize before I can release him to fly across the world.”
All Ella could think of was that Keira hadn’t even bothered to come past and say good morning. Hurt stabbed her. Then she set it aside. No doubt Keira was avoiding her because deep down her sister must be experiencing some guilt for the decision she and Dmitri had made.
Ella decided she wasn’t going to let herself dwell on the turmoil that Keira’s choice had created.
It was done.
Now there was the baby to think about....
But Yevgeny’s response caused her to realize that she hadn’t even asked her sister when they planned to leave for Africa. She’d been too busy trying to cope with the magnitude of the shock. Keira had said she and Dmitri had already booked the tickets but that’s all she knew.
“Do you have any idea when they plan to leave?” It rankled to have to depend on Yevgeny for information but she needed to know.
“I believe they leave the day after tomorrow.”
“That soon?”
Ella was still absorbing this new upset when he asked, “What will you be thinking about?”
“Pardon?” For a moment Ella thought Yevgeny had picked up on her earlier hurt at Keira’s failure to come say good morning and was asking about her thoughts.
“You told the social worker you’d think about it.” Yevgeny had moved up beside her, causing the space in the ward to shrink. “What will you be thinking about?”
Ella frowned as she realized he’d overheard the last part of her discussion with Jo. She had no intention of revealing that Jo thought she needed counseling. The good thing was at least he hadn’t detected her hurt over Keira. “It’s nothing important,” she said dismissively. “It wasn’t about the baby.”
“Did you tell her I am going to adopt the baby?”
“But you’re not.” Inside, her stomach started to twist into a pretzel. Ella pursed her lips. “I told her you weren’t suitable.”
“You did not!”
“Yes, I did.”
His gaze blitzed into her. “Because I’m single?”
Ella didn’t glance away from his hard stare. “Among other things.”
“But once I’m married that will change,” he said softly and came another step closer. “You know that.”
Ella blinked. And found herself inhaling the warm scent of freshly showered male. This close she could see the crisp whiteness of his ironed shirt.
What was he up to now?
“You should’ve seen her.” His voice took on a husky, intimate tone. “She’s so beautiful—”
Ella recoiled. “I don’t care what your wife-to-be looks like!”
At her interruption, he looked puzzled, then he smiled. A smile filled with a burst of charm and humor that Ella hadn’t wanted to recognize in Yevgeny Volkovoy. It made him all too human. And irresistibly appealing. This wouldn’t do at all. She wanted—no, needed—to keep thinking of him as Keira’s overbearing, bullying brother-in-law.
“No, not my wife-to-be. The baby.” He chuckled. “She was awake...waving her hands and watching them. Smart and beautiful. You’ve seen her this morning.”
It was a statement—rather than a question.
Ella squirmed, reluctant to admit that she’d barely glanced at the baby while she was in the ward during the pediatrician’s consultation. Then she told herself she had no reason to feel guilty. Keira and Dmitri’s actions were not her fault.
Rather than answering his question, she changed the subject. “So you’re going through with it? You’re really going to get married?”
He nodded. “I want that baby.”
God, the man was stubborn. Didn’t he ever accept no for an answer? Time for him to learn he couldn’t always get what he wanted in life. Sometimes someone else’s needs came first.
This time, the baby’s best interests were paramount. Not his.
Letting out the breath she’d been unconsciously holding since that first whiff of his male essence, Ella said, “Well, you need to know that you’re sacrificing yourself for nothing. I’m not going to change my mind. And it’s still my decision. As the legal mother, I get to choose the parents the baby will go to.”
He went deadly still. “You will choose me—and my wife.”
Was that a threat?
Ella carefully assessed his motionless body, the face with the high Slavic cheekbones, skin stretched taut across them. Yevgeny needed to know she wasn’t going to let him bully her.
“Unlikely. This morning I gave Jo a list of the qualities I’m seeking in the prospective parents. Nothing you can offer meets the criteria. She’s going to bring me portfolios of prospective parents to look at—and I’ll choose a couple from there.”
The tension in the air became electric. “When?”
“Shouldn’t you be at work doing whatever it is that high-powered billionaires do?” Ella knew she was being deliberately provocative, but she’d never expected him to be this concerned about the baby.
“When?” he repeated, his face tight.
He wasn’t going to relent, she realized. “As soon as I’m back home—tomorrow probably.”
“And then what happens?”
“The couples have already been interviewed and screened. Police checks have been done. Once I choose a couple and the consent is signed, then the paperwork for the adoption can be filled in and submitted.”
“The consent?”
“Yes.” Ella explained further, “The legal mother can only sign the consent—that’s the formal document where she agrees to give up the baby—on the twelfth day. And yesterday, the day the baby was born, counts as the first day.”
From where she stood Ella could sense the intensity of his gaze. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He was watching her, his head tipped slightly to one side, his brain working overtime. Yevgeny was busy hatching a fiendish plot. She was certain of it.
There was something curiously exhilarating about being the focus of all that raw, brilliant energy. He might come in a devastatingly well-groomed, freshly scented and well-built male package, but it was his mind that Ella found fascinating. That ability to concentrate with such single-minded intensity. The ability to conjure up solutions no one had come up with before.
She could kind of understand why women might be attracted to that....
“So you can change your mind anytime up until that twelfth day?” he asked.
Ella blinked—and wrenched herself away from her fancies. “In theory. But I wouldn’t do it. It wouldn’t be very fair to do that to a couple once I’ve told them they’ve been chosen.”
Determination fired in his eyes. “This baby will be mine—I will do everything in my power to make sure that happens.”
Despite the morning sunshine spilling through the windows of the ward, Ella shivered.
* * *
It was evening.
The sun was setting beyond the distinctive silhouette of the Auckland Bridge transforming the Waitemata Harbour to liquid gold. Turning his head away from the magnificent view, Yevgeny dropped down o
nto the king-size bed in Nadiya’s hotel suite and gazed contemplatively across at the woman standing in front of the dresser, the woman he planned shortly to reduce to screaming satisfaction.
Yet instead of dwelling on the pleasures of seduction, his mind was already elsewhere.
It was the end of day two. He had only ten days left. Yevgeny knew he needed to act—and fast.
He had to get engaged—and he needed to convince Ella to change her mind about his suitability to be a father.
That was going to take some doing.
It was enough to make him grind his teeth with frustration. Yet he was a long way from conceding defeat. He’d never been the kind of man to back away from a challenge—and this was the most important challenge of his life.
Now or never.
Taking a deep breath, he gave Nadiya his most practiced smile and patted the bedcover beside him. “Come make yourself comfortable.”
Nadiya glided across the room. Kicking off her high heels, she settled herself on the bed beside him. Long fingertips reached for the buttons of her silk shirtdress, and she gave him a pout.
“How do you feel about children?”
“Children?”
Nadiya’s eyes widened, and her fingers stilled in the act of undressing. Her lips, still plump with gloss, parted. Yevgeny could identify with her shock. He was shocked. This was a discussion he had never before conducted with a woman. It was breaking new ground. But not only had he always desired Nadiya, he’d always liked her, too—even though, for the first time, he struggled to focus on their approaching lovemaking.
She hesitated, and then said, “I’ve always wanted children.”
This was good.
Coming up on his elbow, he propped his hand under his head. “I am pleased to hear that.”
From across the pale pink satin comforter, with her long legs folded beneath her, she watched him through those catlike eyes. “So you want children?”
What choice did he have? There was a child...and he couldn’t walk away from her. But he wasn’t ready to reveal more. So he gave Nadiya the same answer he’d given Ella. “The time has come.”
She said, “I do have contractual obligations.”
This wasn’t what he needed to hear. Talk of contracts reminded him too much of...Ella.
He rolled away and lay back. She, too, was proving to be like the woman he tried never to think about. Keeping his voice level, he said, “You don’t have time for children.”
“No, no. I’m not saying that!” Nadiya edged closer and placed her hand over his. “But I never expected you to offer—”
She broke off.
Sensing opportunity, he turned his head. “You never expected me to offer...what?”
“What are you offering, Yevgeny? You haven’t actually said.”
This was another thing he liked about Nadiya—she was direct. He chuckled softly, secure that he was about to get what he wanted. The sensation that shot through him was familiar; the dart of adrenaline that signified the successful conclusion of a deal. “I’m offering a diamond ring to the mother of my child.”
“Marriage?”
He nodded. For one uncertain instant he considered telling her about the baby girl he planned to adopt...but before he could speak, Nadiya let out a breathy little gasp and started to bounce on the bed. “Yes! Yes! Yes!”
A wave of euphoria swept him. The first step of his plan had been accomplished. Ella McLeod would stand no chance....
But why was he thinking about her when he should be focused on Nadiya? Tightening his fingers around his fiancée’s, he prompted, “And what about your contract?”
“We will work something out—I do want a baby.”
Yevgeny studied her from under hooded eyelids. It might be a good idea to wait...to see how she reacted to the baby before he showed his hand entirely. The brief moment of uncertainty passed. Nadiya was beautiful, no doubt about that. Sexy, too. And beneath the model-perfect exterior she was likable. Everything a man could ever want. Everything he should be desiring....
So why did he keep remembering a pair of outraged honey-gold eyes?
Four
Yevgeny returned to the hospital late the following afternoon—with his supermodel in tow. His face wore no expression as the pair entered the family waiting room where Ella had just met with Jo, and now she tried desperately to match his insouciance. All day, she’d found herself wondering when he would arrive.
Now he was here.
And he hadn’t come alone.
Sitting on one of the two-seater love seats, her overnight bag already packed and ready to go, Ella couldn’t help wishing that she’d taken the time to blow-dry her hair straight after breakfast instead of wasting time staring out the hospital-ward window for thirty soul-searching minutes. Now, at the end of the day, her hair hung like rats’ tails around her face while Nadiya looked absolutely fabulous. Not that Ella should care...but unaccountably she did.
Maybe she couldn’t look as if she’d stepped out the pages of Vogue, but she wanted to look capable and together—like someone out of a feature on successful women in Cosmo.
Brisk. Businesslike. A woman who had achieved every career goal she’d ever set for herself; not the quivering mass of Jell-O–like uncertainty that she was right now.
Nadiya was glancing around the family room with interest—taking in the large black-and-white photos of mothers cradling babies that decorated the walls. Ella wondered if she’d ever seen inside a maternity unit before. Given the model’s whippet-slim figure, pregnancy was not something Ella could imagine the supermodel contemplating with glee.
“Where’s the baby?”
Ella managed not to roll her eyes skyward. Of course the baby would be the first thing that Yevgeny asked about.
“Her diaper is being changed.”
“The birth went well?” asked Nadiya.
Ella could’ve hugged the woman for unwittingly preventing Yevgeny from venting the criticism that hovered unspoken on his lips. Clearly he thought she should be attending to the baby.
“Yes, very well.” She gave the supermodel a small smile. “I’ve already been discharged.”
“That’s good. How much does she weigh?”
Ella told her.
“Your sister must be thrilled—she’s changing her now?”
Did Nadiya not know that Keira had pulled out of the adoption? Ella’s questioning gaze slid to Yevgeny. Perhaps the two weren’t as close as she’d assumed...perhaps Nadiya was not the bride he intended to sucker into marriage.
“I—”
“I brought Nadiya to meet the baby,” he cut in before Ella could respond. “She has agreed to marry me.” He lifted Nadiya’s hand to flash a gigantic diamond, and smirked at Ella.
“No!” She realized she’d said it out loud as Nadiya’s face reflected shock. “I mean...what a surprise.”
The other woman’s eyes had narrowed and she was studying Ella in a way that made her feel decidedly uncomfortable. Nadiya’s gaze flashed back and forth between Ella and Yevgeny. Her discomfort increased. The conclusion the other woman was drawing about Ella’s hasty objection was wrong.
She hastened to correct her. “You don’t understand—”
“Let’s go visit the baby.” Nadiya smiled up at Yevgeny as her fingers walked up his arm then spread out and rested against his suit-clad biceps in an unmistakably possessive gesture. The diamond sparkled. The model turned her head, and her gaze glittered mine at Ella.
Nadiya was welcome to the man!
As the pair exited the ward, Ella glared at Yevgeny’s retreating back. He was the most devious, cold-bloodedly scheming man she’d ever come across—and she’d seen enough. He’d gone out to find the first woman to marry him—and proposed—without botherin
g to explain why he wanted to marry her.
He was using the young woman.
Deep down, Ella knew she was being unfair. Nadiya might be young but she was far from naive. And what man wouldn’t want to marry Nadiya?
But at the back of her mind, worry raged for the baby. Given a choice, a fashion model was hardly the kind of mother she would’ve picked out. Together, as a couple, Yevgeny and Nadiya were so far removed from her notion of ideal parents. This was a train crash waiting to happen...and the baby would be the biggest victim.
Even as anxiety noodled her stomach into a tangle of nerves, one of the caregivers bustled in. “I’ve changed the baby. Mr. Volkovoy and his friend are with her in the nursery. The baby is looking well. She’ll be fine to leave.” She stopped beside Ella and said in a tone of inquiry, “Jo said the adoption is still some time away from being finalized.”
Not if Yevgeny had his way....
But Ella was far from convinced that the Russian billionaire and his supermodel fiancée were the kind of parents the baby deserved. The last thing she wanted was to read about the baby in the tabloids and gossip magazines as so often happened with celebrities who seemed to care little for their offspring.
She might not be in a position to keep the baby. But she could damn well make sure it got the best start in life—and that meant the best parents possible.
And she’d told Jo that in as many words.
The five profiles she’d gone through with Jo earlier before rejecting them all had confirmed Jo’s statement that there were many parents anxiously waiting to adopt. But Ella had a sinking feeling that Yevgeny’s insistence to adopt might still prove a hindrance.
“The baby will stay with a foster family until I choose the final adoptive parents,” Ella answered at last.
“That will be one very happy set of parents,” the caregiver said, drawing the curtains farther back to let more light into the room.
There was nothing more to say.
Ella knew it was time to pick up the overnight bag she’d packed hours ago and for her to leave the place where she’d given birth—and leave the baby behind.