Forbidden Contract (The Birmingham Brothers Series)

by L. A. Miller

  “Remember, we didn’t break the contract.”

  She looked at him and nodded before turning and following her grandmother out of the room. Once in the study her grandmother moved to sit behind her desk while Bailey closed the door behind them. As Bailey approached the seat before the desk she knew she was about to receive a lecture.

  “I received some interesting news this morning my dear, seems congratulations are in order.”

  “Ma’am?”

  “I hear I am to be a great grandmother.” She said trying to control her irritation.

  “Oh that…I figured it would be the best way of stopping the wager.” Bailey sighed relieved.

  “By starting a scandal?”

  “Grandmother, it’s hardly a scandal, people get pregnant every day and the fact that Beckett and I are supposed to be engaged and will be married in a few weeks…”

  “It leads everyone to believe that it is a shotgun wedding.” Her grandmother said sternly.

  “Really grandmother, times have changed.”

  “Not in the South my dear….instead of your wedding being the result of a fairy tale romance it will be one of necessity.”

  “What does it matter?” Bailey asked as she stood and began to pace. “What if it was true; so what? Wasn’t the whole point of us getting married was so that his family could build a reputation out here, who cares if he married me for love or because I got pregnant.”

  Regina sighed as she watched her granddaughter pace. Unless you had been born in the South it would be hard to comprehend the prejudices that still existed. Bailey was unaware of the class structure that still existed behind the public eyes.

  “And how will you explain it when 3 months from now you are not showing?”

  “Easy, I miscarried…..grandmother, did you know they were wagering on who could steal me away from Beckett…..like I was some prize horse.”

  “Of course.” Regina said waiving off the matter as if it was on no consequence.

  “And that doesn’t bother you?”

  “Bailey, what the men do in their clubs is no concern of mine. How this family is perceived is.”

  Bailey suddenly felt defensive. She stopped her pacing and stared at her grandmother.

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means my dear, when you and Beckett are in the public eye you must behave with the utmost discretion. Your display of indecency added to the revelation of your pregnancy has lowered you to the level of a common gutter rat.”

  Her words shocked Bailey as if she had been slapped. She looked at her grandmother trying to control her own anger before she replied.

  “Your son has nearly ruined your husband’s company; your granddaughter married a drummer on a drunken whim. Your grandson has a pension for attacking women including his own cousin and you dare call me a gutter rat. I am sorry if our display of affection has offended you grandmother but considering the company we were in it seemed the best way to make a statement. Beckett made it clear last night that their wager was useless; I ensured it with my comment to Harrison. I never told him I was pregnant only eluded.” She said rubbing her temples now to try to alleviate the headache she was getting.

  “Bailey” Her grandmother began as she tried to temper her anger. “There is a lot riding on this arrangement, not just for our family but for Beckett’s.”

  “Don’t you think I am aware of that?” Bailey said looking at her grandmother. “But since I have arrived here two men have attacked me and I became the token of a wager….I have begun to doubt anyone’s sincerity.”

  “You seem to trust Beckett.”

  “He hasn’t given me reason not to” Bailey said honestly.

  “Was it wise to sleep with him?” She asked now her face softening.

  Bailey looked at her grandmother and knew there was no point in denying it. “Probably not.” Then she added. “He didn’t break your contract.”

  “I’m aware of that…as long as you are aware that after the wedding, if you sleep with him the contract will be void.”

  “I know.”

  “Do you believe he will be able to resist you?”

  “He won’t have a choice.” Bailey said sadly. “I won’t allow it.”

  Her grandmother’s look was now sympathetic. “And when he takes another to his bed?”

  Bailey felt the tear begin to slide down her cheek. When she encouraged Beckett the night before she had been fully aware of the consequences and she had told herself it didn’t matter. She would not regret that moment and for the next three weeks she would enjoy every moment they shared together. She believed when the time came she could be strong for him. But what would happen when he found someone else and when her heart broke into a thousand pieces.

  “I will have no choice in the matter.”

  “You always have a choice Bailey.”

  Bailey looked at her grandmother. “Yes I guess I do. I chose to come here because I promised my mother I wouldn’t allow my family to be separated. I chose to sleep with Beckett because I have fallen in love with him. In three weeks when we say our vows I will choose to give up that relationship and help him live up to the contract you forced him to sign. I will not let his family down.”

  “I did not force him to do anything.”

  “You wouldn’t have sold him the company any other way. His family needed this business to keep a major contract. Without it they would go on but a lot of their employees would have to be let go. They care too much about them to allow that but you knew that and counted on it. You are too shrewd a business woman not to have done your homework. I guess what you didn’t count on was me. Alicia would have been better for the part. Beckett would have continued to have Macy on the side and she would have had her lovers. At the end of the year they would have gone their separate way and everyone would have gained by it.”

  “You are right, I didn’t count on you but I don’t regret the change in my plans. It gave me a way to make amends to you and Alexis and Tristan. I hoped it would be a way to start out fresh and hopefully when the year ended we would be a family. I added the clause to the contract only after Alicia got married and I had to replace her with you. I knew Beckett’s reputation with women and I knew your lack of relationships. I was trying to protect you. I never expected you to fall for him, at least not this quickly.” She said as she rose and walked over to the window. For a moment both were silent as Regina contemplated something. “I assumed once you were married there wouldn’t be a problem with him adhering to our contract and the time the two of you spent together would be minimal.”

  “I’ve learned in life grandmother things usually don’t go as planned. When my father fell in love with my mother he never thought it would cost him his family. He never planned on losing his company, never planned on dying. My mother never planned on getting cancer. She planned to fight it after Tristan was born but it was too late. I never planned on giving up my dream to raise my siblings. I never planned on falling in love with someone that I couldn’t have. Life seldom turns out like we planned. We have choices we make, we live with the consequences and deal with the curves life throws our way.”

  Regina turned around and stared at Bailey. For the first time Bailey saw beyond the mask to the woman who had spent most of her life handling the mistakes of others. She suddenly wondered what had she given up in her life. As if reading Baileys thoughts Regina told her.

  “I was barely 17 when I fell in love for the first time. He was wild and handsome and everything my parents warned me about. He worked in the stables and for a brief summer he taught me what passion was all about. I would sneak out at night and meet him down by the lake on my father’s estate. He made me promises of the life we would have and filled my head with the places we would see. He was older and knew exactly what to say to a young girl to woo her to his bed. My parents had dreams I would marry your grandfather uniting our families empires. Your grandfather was good looking and kind but there was no excitement when
I was with him. He was safe and boring.” She smiled sadly. “At the end of the summer my love left leaving me behind with broken promises, a broken heart and a baby growing inside of me. My family would never have forgiven me if they knew. Your grandfather found me crying one day by the lake. He had a way of getting people to talk and before I knew it I was telling him everything. I knew he was in love with me and like our parents he expected one day we would marry. I saw the hurt on his face when I told him I was pregnant. When I told him I was planning on running away to save my family the shame he gave me another option. He asked me to marry him. He even went to my father and begged forgiveness for our indiscretion and assumed the responsibility of my pregnancy.” She walked over and touched the daffodils on the desk. “We were married in a quiet ceremony and eight months later your uncles Spencer and Braxton were born. Your grandfather loved them as if they were his own and gave them every opportunity life had to offer. We tried for years to have a child together but each time I miscarried and we gave up hope. Then I became pregnant with your father.” She smiled and for a moment she looked younger. “Ryder was everything his brothers weren’t. They had the wild streak of their father in them; Ryder had the gentleness of your grandfather. They took what they wanted and didn’t care who was hurt in the process, your father gave of himself to those in need. As they grew the differences became more apparent and while your grandfather loved your uncles he favored Ryder. Everyone did. Ryder was dating the daughter of one of our dear friends and we hoped one day they would marry. Then he met your mother.” She said looking up at Bailey. “You look like her did you know that?”

  “Yes ma’am.”

  “Like you she was a beauty and when she entered a room the men’s heads turned.” She smiled as she remembered. “Much the same as they do for you. I think it’s the innocence you both elude. We knew her family and though they we’re nice people they were not of our class.” Bailey could not help but wince at her comment and Regina noticed. “Bailey, in our world class structure means everything. When you marry outside of you class you are shunned by our kind, I know it seems cruel but it is how it has been for hundreds of years. We thought he would get her out of his system, he needed to sow his oats and what better way than with someone beneath him. Eventually he would remember his place and leave her. When he told us they had gotten married your grandfather was furious. He demanded the marriage be annulled and your father refused. He gave him the choice and your father chose her. It broke your grandfather’s heart. He was left with two vile sons who belonged to another man while his true son had gone.”

  “Father was hurt too….he only spoke to me once about it and I remember how sad he was when he asked me how could he have not chosen the woman he loved. I never asked him about it because I didn’t like seeing the pain in his eyes.”

  “At first your grandfather thought he would come back, apologize and do what was expected. As the years past he grew angry with your father as a means to cover the hurt. Then as he grew older the sadness overtook him. I had finally convinced him it was time to forgive and offer a way for your father to come home. But your father was killed.” She said as her eyes began to well up. “The day Ryder died I lost my husband. Oh he went on, went through the motions of life, but his soul was empty. That was when I truly realized how much I had grown to love that man. When he died I promised his legacy would live on and I did everything I could to salvage his name. When my sons married I hoped the women they chose would change them, they didn’t. When they had children all I saw was my punishment for my summer of passion. It’s a hard thing for a mother to admit her children should never have been born.”

  “Did you ever see their father again?”

  “Yes….he came back a few years later, drunk and down on his luck. He threatened me, told me he would expose the truth about their real heritage if I didn’t pay him.” She frowned remembering that day. “I was afraid….not for me….not for the boys….but for your grandfather and how it would ruin him.”

  “What did you do?”

  Regina looked up and Bailey saw the horror in her eyes for a moment before it was replaced by her stubborn pride.

  “I did what was expected of me. I gave him some money to go away and when he came back again a few years later I did it again and the following year I gave him some more. The year he came after your father’s birth I realized he would never stop so I hired a man who took care of him for me.”

  “You had him killed?” Bailey said shocked.

  “NO….but the man who beat him assured him that if he ever showed his face around my family again he would be killed. He never came back.”

  Bailey suddenly sat as her legs began to shake. Her grandmother took her seat behind the desk and sitting proudly she folded her hands upon the desk and looked directly at Bailey.

  “Bailey, I know you think you are in love with Beckett and in your heart even if you won’t admit it you want to believe in the fairy tale. That you and he will marry and he will grow to love you. When the year is up he will stay and you will have the family you have always dreamed up. No matter what I say you will do as your heart tells you. But listen to a woman who has lived a long time. Who knows the difference between love and passion? For the next few weeks he will love you, he may even say the words to you. He will make you feel as if you are the only women in the world that has ever made him feel this way. That he cannot see a life without you. When the vows are spoken and when he is no longer able to share your body he will look elsewhere. That is his history and no matter what you hope he will not change. His longest relationship was an open relationship with a woman who didn’t care if he cheated. That was why I put the clause in the contract Bailey. I didn’t want you to make the same mistake I made and fall for a man who could not love you the way a man should. The way your grandfather loved me and the way your father loved your mother. Each man sacrificed for the women they loved.”

  Bailey sat there staring at her grandmother refusing to believe that what she said was true. Beckett was not the man her grandmother portrayed. He was willing to walk away from the contract for her but she was the one who wouldn’t let him. He was the one who wanted more than the three weeks with her but she was the one who insisted it end. Was her grandmother correct though about what would happen after their vows? Would he move on to another if she denied him her bed? Was she fooling herself to believe he could remain faithful to her? If Macy was his longest relationship and the only reason it lasted so long was because it had been open ended how could she believe he would do anything else? She wanted to trust him and believe what he said but the doubts returned. As she stood now her only question was what she would do when she walked out that door. She looked at her grandmother.

  “I have three weeks with the man I love. If it ends after we take our vows then so be it. Unlike you I have gone in with my eyes open and will have to accept the consequences of my action. I do not doubt my heart will break and only time will heal it. I also do not doubt my heart may never be whole again. But I will not regret one moment of that time and I will savor every minute I have with him till then. Thank you grandmother for both your honesty and your concern but I am my parent’s daughter and I still believe in the possibility of love.”

  “For your sake my dear I hope you faith in him is confirmed.” She said as Bailey turned to leave. “One more thing.” Regina said stopping Bailey at the door. “I will make two requests of you, when in public please try to maintain some form of decency.”

  “And the second?” Bailey asked looking at her grandmother.

  “I would prefer the children do not learn of your affairs in bed, they will lose their innocence to soon as it is.”

  “I will respect your requests.”

  “Thank you.” Regina said dismissing Bailey.

  When Bailey opened the door she found Beckett waiting outside. She saw the concern in his eyes and knew it had taken every ounce of his control not to barge in on the discussion between her and her grand
mother. She also saw fear. She knew he was worried that her grandmother would somehow convince her to change her mind about him. She walked up and leaning against him she wrapped her arms around him and as he wrapped his arms around her and he shuttered in relief.

  Chapter 44

  Several times Beckett had stopped himself from barging into the study. When Regina had asked to speak to Bailey he had felt his stomach drop to the floor. Bailey had turned to him and he saw the fear and doubt in her eyes. He assumed like her that her grandmother knew about their previous night and was going to lecture Bailey. He was also afraid she would make some type of demand that would force Bailey to keep her distance. He wanted to speak up in their defense but knew Regina never did anything without a plan and he needed to figure out what the game was before he could defend against it. So he had smiled and defiantly kissed Bailey’s cheek as a signal to Regina that he and Bailey had changed the definition of their relationship. He had watched them leave then turned to the deal with the amused looks of his family. As expected it was Trent who spoke up.

  “So I take it the two of you finally found a room?” He grinned as he bit into an apple.

  “Trent!” His mother warned. “Beckett and Bailey’s relationship will remain private between them. It is not our concern unless they chose to make it so.”

  “It is our concern if it voids the contract.” Justin reminded her. “Sorry Beck, I am happy for you but I’m not about to invest all of our time and work into a company to see it go down the drain because my younger brother needs a new bedmate.”

  Beckett would have charged his brother if his father and Ethan hadn’t grabbed him and held him back.

  “Bailey is not a new bedmate.” He said through gritted teeth. He looked at his father and when he assured him he would not hit his brother Roark released him. Ethan hesitated then he too let go of Beckett’s arm.

  “Justin is right Beck, you know how I feel about Bailey and I couldn’t be happier for the two of you, I think she is the only woman who has a shot of making you happy. But the reality is if you can’t keep your dick in your pants then everything we have done and do in the future will be worthless. Say the word and we can pack things up and head back home. We can see if Grayson will give us an extension.”