Wouldn’t he? He certainly hoped she was right. He didn’t want to stand in the way of her bettering herself, if that was what she really wanted. “Perhaps you should let me be the judge of what I worry about.” He forced a smile.
“What are you looking at enrolling for?”
“I thought I’d find out how I can supplement what I did before I went overseas. I would like to finish my business degree, if possible.”
Finish her degree? “But you only completed a couple papers before and that was eight years ago. What makes you think you can just pick up where you left off?”
“I don’t know if I can, that’s why I’m looking into the courses and pre-enrollment information now.”
“Piper, you were hardly an A-grade student. This is really going to take time and perseverance. Don’t you think you’re biting off more than you can chew?”
“Well, thanks. It’s nice to know where you stand. I would have thought you’d be happy to see me doing something so that I can eventually support myself.”
“Is that what this is about? I already told you that, as long as you’re under my roof, I will cover your expenses.”
“Good, then you can pay for my tuition.”
Piper rose from her chair and gathered her papers.
“That wasn’t what I meant,” Wade said firmly.
“Fine, so I’ll apply for a student loan.”
Before he could reply she’d left the kitchen with her nose very firmly in the air. Wade watched her go with narrowed eyes. Piper? Back at Uni? She looked, and sounded, as if she was serious about this. If she was, then of course he’d make sure she had the financial support she needed to make it happen. But he still struggled to reconcile the girl he’d once thought he knew so well with the determined young woman of today.
Piper fought back the tears that smarted in her eyes. She felt so stupid. She’d have thought that maybe Wade would understand why it would be a good thing for her to complete her degree but he was no different from her father. It seemed they were cut from the same cloth after all. Both determined to pigeonhole her. And no matter what she did to try and prove her worth—to garner their love and respect for her as a person—they wouldn’t see it. No wonder the two men had gotten on so well. Perhaps leaving them both had been the best decision she’d ever made. Certainly better than the one she’d made to come home.
It had been nothing but heartache, and challenge after challenge since her return. Drawing water by hand from a well or clearing away a mudslide so a medical team could pass a road suddenly looked like easier options.
She let herself into the morning room, the room that had been her mother’s, and threw herself onto the chaise. Why did everything have to be so hard?
In a perfect world she’d be able to declare her feelings for Wade, and of course he’d reciprocate and they’d both live happily ever after. A cynical laugh bubbled in her chest. As if. No, there was one thing and one thing only that Wade wanted from her and it was definitely not her lifelong devotion.
She rubbed one hand absently over her lower stomach. She’d felt him do the same last night. Had he been wondering, as she did now, whether they’d conceived the child he so desperately wanted?
A sound at the door drove her to her feet. Wade came inside the morning room and stopped just one step from the door.
“Are you absolutely serious about finishing your degree?” he asked, an inscrutable expression on his face.
“Of course I am, why else would I have gone to the bother of getting all this?” She waved the clutch of papers she held in her hand at him. “I need this, Wade. I need it for me. I know I bummed around the last time. I was in a different head space then. I didn’t appreciate any of what I had, I just knew I wanted it all.” She shot him a glance that she hoped reiterated that he had been among those things she’d wanted so very much. “When I couldn’t have what I wanted, I behaved like an idiot. I know that. I just think I deserve a second chance. I really want to get it right this time.”
She’d said more than she’d wanted to, far, far more than she’d wanted to. Right now she wouldn’t blame him if he outright laughed in her face and walked away but to her surprise he held out his hand.
“May I see the courses you’re looking at taking?”
Silently she handed over the information and watched as he settled into a chair and flicked through it all. Finally he looked up again.
“You really want to do this?”
“I really do.”
He leaned back in his chair and looked up at her. Despite her having the physical advantage, it certainly didn’t feel that way. For a long moment he said nothing and the silence stretched out painfully between them. He cleared his throat before speaking. “If you’re absolutely serious about this—”
“Oh, yes. I am,” she interrupted.
“If you’ll let me finish,” he said with a small but genuine smile.
“Sure, go on. I’m sorry.”
“As I was saying, if you’re absolutely serious about this then you may be eligible to do these papers through Mitchell Exports. We run cadetships, much like your father used to do unpaid internships, but this way you get to earn as you learn. We have strict entry criteria and a panel made up of management personnel at Mitchell Exports has the final decision. Are you prepared to be scrutinized and assessed to see if you’re deemed worthy?”
Scrutinized? Assessed? It sounded daunting. The old Piper would have laughed in his face then run a mile in the opposite direction. But she’d had to change and she really needed to prove to herself that she could do this.
“Yes,” she answered simply. “I’ll do whatever it takes.”
“It’s not going to be a walk in the park, Piper. You will have to apply yourself at work and here at home in the evenings. The study load is huge. Are you sure you will be able to cope with that?”
“Don’t underestimate how much this means to me, Wade. I am determined to do this.”
“And when you fall pregnant?”
“I don’t see why I can’t continue to study. I remember pregnant women and young mothers at Uni when I was there. I’ll find a balance. Look, I don’t expect to achieve this overnight. I’m being realistic. I know it won’t be easy for me to get back into a learning mind-set, let alone a lecture environment. But I will do it.”
Her earnestness must have convinced him.
“I’ll discuss it with the team on Monday and we’ll go from there, okay?”
“Thank you,” she said.
It was far more than she’d expected of him. Far more than she deserved given her track record.
“Just don’t let me down on this.”
“I won’t.”
As autumn slid wetly into winter, Wade found himself having to reassess his opinion of Piper on a regular basis, both in the office and at home. Her application to her work had seen her become immensely popular with the staff and her intervention when she’d seen a mistake in a proposal written in Spanish, targeting a sought-after South American client, had saved them both embarrassment and thousands of dollars.
When had she learned Spanish? he wondered as he signed off on the new deal with a flourish of his pen. And what else had she learned in the years they’d been apart?
By day she was a diligent employee. Outside of business hours, she was an equally diligent student as she worked through a six-month-long pre-entry course to get up to speed for attending university again for the semester beginning in the new year. And by night—he felt that all too familiar tightening in his groin—by night she was an exceptional lover.
He looked forward to their evenings together with an enthusiasm he’d underestimated. Sex with Piper had always been good, but what they shared now surpassed anything they’d experienced before. There was a synchronicity in their movements, their desire to give one another pleasure and receive it in return. Aside from when she’d had her period some weeks ago, they’d spent every night making love. Even then he hadn’t allowed he
r to return to her room and had instead enjoyed the closeness of simply holding her in his arms at night.
This new Piper was indeed someone else compared to the woman who’d left after demanding he give up his life’s dream to follow her overseas on a tantrum-induced-whim. It was as if she was doing her level best to please and it occurred to him that above all else, Piper craved acceptance. Everything she did was with the purpose of fitting in with her peers, and of gaining a degree of respect and independence.
Last week he’d reviewed the accounts that related to the running of the house and cars and noted that there was no bill for the petrol she’d been putting in her car. On checking up with the gas station, he’d been informed that Piper was paying for her fills herself and not charging them to the account he’d had set up. When he’d approached her, she’d merely lifted her chin in that endearingly self-reliant way of hers, and said she was earning a decent wage so there was no reason why she couldn’t meet her own costs. He’d wanted to argue with her, to tell her that providing for her was his responsibility now, but there had been something in her stance that made him think twice about pushing the point home.
Deep down he recognized and understood her need to stand on her own two feet—it was how he’d felt his entire life—and for some reason that commonality with her was as unsettling as it was encouraging.
He wondered anew why Rex had never encouraged Piper to achieve more with her life. Why had the man kept his daughter slotted within set confines of behavior and expectation? No wonder Piper previously had never amounted to anything more than a two-dimensional woman whose selfish demands had clouded what Wade now believed were the real issues that drove her.
She was an intelligent woman who had a quick grasp of business concepts. Not only that, but her keen mind presented solutions to issues that he would have expected from someone with a great deal of life experience. Just what had she done while she was away? What had made her come into her potential that he’d only ever glimpsed in the past?
Rex had done her a disservice. If the old man had perhaps been a little less chauvinistic and a whole lot more inclined to see beyond the peripheral beauty of his daughter, he could have had a formidable business partner at his side when he got sick. He could have kept Mitchell Exports a family owned business, instead of sharing that honor with the son of a stranger.
This softening in attitude to Piper was a new concept for Wade. For so many years he’d been focused on his anger toward her, on his need to even what he saw as a score to be settled between them. Now, he could at least accept that her behavior had not all been her own fault.
He shook his head slightly. Man, he must be getting soft. He’d never have believed he could feel like this about Piper again—protective, encouraging.
Wade put down his pen and picked up the contracts before rising from his desk and going to his PA.
“Could you see these are couriered to Mr. Rodriguez as quickly as possible?” he asked, leaving the contracts on the side of her desk.
“Sure thing,” his PA replied. “Oh, and Piper called and left a message for you. She wasn’t feeling quite a hundred percent so she headed home early today.”
“She’s not feeling well?” Wade asked. “Do you know why?”
“Not sure, could be the flu. She started here after we all had our annual flu shots.”
Flu, or could it be something else that made her feel sick? Whatever it was he needed to find out face-to-face.
“Cancel the rest of my appointments,” he instructed as he headed for the door.
“But—”
His PA’s protest fell on deaf ears as the door swung closed behind him. Anything and everything else faded into insignificance. He had to know and he had to know right now.
Was Piper pregnant?
Eleven
Traffic on the way home was heavy, despite the early hour. Schools hadn’t closed yet for the day, yet there seemed to be an inordinate number of cars on the road. And the rain didn’t help at all. Coming down across the windshield in driving sheets, Wade’s wipers were working flat out to keep the glass clear.
Everything crawled to a standstill near the turn off to his street. Up ahead, though, Wade caught a glimpse of red and blue flashing lights. Police, a fire truck and an ambulance? A sick feeling of dread took up residence in his gut. Without sparing the weather another thought, Wade pulled his car over to the side and got out, running toward the cause of the traffic jam. As he neared the intersection, the dread solidified into abject terror. There, wrapped around a power pole, was an all-too-familiar vehicle. Piper’s car!
Rain streaming down his face and in his eyes, Wade elbowed past the gathering crowd. Nothing else mattered right now but knowing that she was okay.
A team of firefighters were using cutting equipment to free the driver’s door of her car.
“I’m sorry, sir, but you have to stay back,” a young police officer ordered, standing firmly in Wade’s way and arresting his progress.
“She’s my…”
My what? he thought, unable to quantify their relationship properly but desperate to explain to the policeman that he had every right to be at her side when she was brought from the vehicle.
“Sir?”
“My girlfriend. She’s my girlfriend,” Wade repeated, as if doing so could get it through to the officer.
“There’s nothing you can do right now. Just let the guys do their job. She’ll be out in a minute or two.”
“Is she all right? Do you know if she’s hurt at all?” he asked, looking over the uniformed shoulder of the officer and trying anxiously to make out Piper’s shape through the rain and the heavily coated fire rescue team.
To his infinite relief, he saw her moving and the instant the door was removed from the car, he watched as she was helped from the vehicle and to the waiting ambulance. One of the paramedics gestured for her to lie down on the gurney he had waiting but Wade felt a swell of pride as she shook her head and walked up the steps to the ambulance under her own steam.
“Can I go to her now, please?”
“Sure.”
The officer stepped aside as Wade began to barge through. Given permission or not, nothing was going to stop him from checking on Piper himself. He bounded up the stairs of the ambulance, only to be barred at the top by one of the medics.
“I’m sorry, sir, but you can’t—”
“It’s okay, he’s with me,” Piper’s voice came from inside the vehicle.
The man stepped aside to let Wade into the confined area. Piper sat on a gurney, a blood pressure cuff on one arm and a wad of dressing held to her nose. She pulled the dressing aside for a moment to speak.
“Don’t worry, it’s worse than it looks. The air bag gave me a bloody nose, that’s all.”
“Don’t worry? Are you sure you’re okay?”
“She’ll have some seat belt bruising and be pretty sore the next few days but so far she checks out okay,” the paramedic who was treating Piper said. He turned back to his patient. “Don’t you want to go to the hospital just to be certain?”
“Yes, she does,” Wade interjected. How could she know there weren’t internal injuries? And besides, what if she was pregnant? What effect would the impact of the crash have had on the baby?
“No, I don’t. Seriously. I’ll be fine. I’m just a bit shaken up, that’s all.” Piper turned to Wade. “Please, I just want to go home and have a long soak in a warm bath right now.”
“Is that wise?” Wade asked of the paramedic.
“Sure, just keep an eye on her. She doesn’t appear to have a concussion or anything else serious.”
“I’ll do that. When can I take her home?”
“Just give us a few minutes to finalize our examination and take some details.”
“Okay, I’ll go and get my car.”
Wade exited the ambulance and was relieved to see that traffic was being directed slowly and steadily past the accident scene. A tow truck was in the proces
s of hoisting the wreck of Piper’s car onto its flatbed.
“Are you the owner?” the tow truck driver asked Wade.
“Yes, I am.”
“You were lucky, then.”
“It wasn’t me driving. It was my girlfriend.”
Again that term that just didn’t sit comfortably with him. Piper was so different from that—less in some ways, but much more in others.
Wade looked at the damage to the vehicle. The passenger side had been entirely staved in. Had anyone been sitting there, they would probably be dead right now. He fought to control the ripple of fear that suffused him. Had the car hit the pole any differently, it could be Piper that was seriously injured, or worse. The car creaked and groaned in protest as the misshapen metal was hauled onto the truck. It was only once the driver was securing it with wide woven straps that Wade realized it had sustained rear end damage too, making him wonder what on earth had caused the crash in the first place.
“Do you know what happened?” he asked the tow truck driver.
“Cops think she was clipped by another driver, someone following too close and too fast, as she slowed for the corner. They shunted her across the road in a spin then took off. At least there were witnesses. They won’t get away with it.”
A red haze of fury swiftly replaced the fear that had earlier swamped him. A hit-and-run driver? If only he could get his hands on the lowlife scum, he’d teach them all about hit-and-run.
“So what do you want me to do with the wreck? I can take it to your home or to a panel beater of your choice so the insurance can get an assessor out. I doubt they’ll do much but write it off, though.”
“Just get rid of the thing.”
“Are you sure, mate? You can sell the wreck for a couple hundred if you want.”
“No, I never want to see it again,” Wade said, his voice seething with tension. He reached into his pocket and took out a business card. “I don’t give a damn what the insurance says. Just see to it that the towing bill and any disposal fees are sent to me and I’ll take care of it.”
The Pregnancy Contract Page 12