Whatever the Price

by Jules Bennett

  “You don’t have to be strong for me,” Olivia told him. “You’ve just lost the only sister you’ve ever known, you’re now raising her child and your marriage is a mess.”

  Anthony laughed. “You don’t sugarcoat things, do you?”

  “Why? That doesn’t help solve the problem. Might as well face it head-on and deal with it.” Olivia quieted for a moment, then spoke again. “Are you sure you want company when you get home?”

  Just watching his wife stroll around the side of the pool in her little summer dress with the sun casting a glow on her tanned skin and glossy hair was making him insane with desire. “Trust me, we could use the buffer of another adult, and I think Charlotte has felt pushed aside with all the upheaval in my life lately. I want her to see that all of you are loving, and I want you to welcome her into the family so she can see she’s not being shunted aside but becoming part of something even greater.”

  “She’s lucky to have you,” Olivia said. “It’s not often a man will fight to keep his wife, especially in L.A. And I’d love to get to know her better. I’ll call Victoria right now. One or both of us will be there next Friday evening.”

  “Perfect.”

  He hung up, feeling more confident that he’d made the right decision. Charlotte had mentioned more than once that she’d like to meet Olivia, but Anthony could tell by her hesitation that she feared Olivia would be a diva or snub her nose at Charlotte because she wasn’t a typical Hollywood wife. And with the tension between them as it had been the few months before their separation, he just hadn’t thought the timing was the best. But now he knew timing was everything and it was the perfect opportunity for Charlotte to feel those open, inviting arms of Olivia Dane.

  Anthony only hoped that Charlotte accepted the love and worked with him on this marriage. He knew she’d tried to keep their marriage strong before. He just hoped he wasn’t too late to win back her love and trust.

  * * *

  “Olivia is coming for a visit when we get back home. And maybe Victoria. You don’t mind, do you?”

  Charlotte zipped up the pink-and-white sleeper on Lily. “Not at all. I’d love to see them. I just hope…”

  Anthony crossed his arms and leaned against the wall beside the changing table. “Hope what?”

  “Nothing.” She picked up the baby, kissed her on the nose and turned away. “Can you grab that bottle for me?”

  “I’ll put her to sleep tonight. You did it last night. This parenting is a joint effort, and I like doing it.”

  Charlotte settled into the rocker. “I don’t mind doing it again. I love snuggling with a fresh-smelling baby.”

  Anthony handed over the bottle and laughed. “You don’t like when she smells ripe? Is that why you called me up for nap time?”

  “Hey, I can’t help it if she decided to fill her diaper just before you walked into the room.”

  He laughed, showcasing those gray eyes she’d fallen in love with. “I think you two are plotting against me. I’m outnumbered.”

  Charlotte shrugged. “Yes, you are.”

  He squatted down in front of the chair and ran a hand over Lily’s swirl of dark hair. “I don’t mind. All that matters is that we’re a family.”

  Charlotte closed her eyes and sighed. “Anthony, I can’t promise…”

  “I know,” he told her, resting his hand on the arm she had curled around the baby. “But I’m learning just how important family is. Every day I think of calling Rachel, but I can’t. She’s gone. I want to secure my family and spend the rest of my life proving to all of you how much you mean to me and how much I love you.”

  Once they returned to Hollywood, to the scene of the crime, so to speak, would he get swept back into the world of glitz and glamour and push her aside once again? But things were moving in the right direction, and she would focus on the positive.

  In his defense, though, she’d never opened up to him, never expressed her feelings and fears of always coming in last on his priority list. So how could he have known he needed to reevaluate his life? She had to take half the blame. She shouldn’t have always assumed he knew how she was feeling.

  “What are you thinking?”

  Charlotte glanced up from where Lily’s puckered little lips formed an O around the bottle. Anthony stared up at her, causing her heart to clench.

  “This is all I’ve ever wanted. All I’d ever dreamed about and here it is. But at what cost? Rachel is gone, our marriage is falling apart, but I have a sweet baby in my arms and you professing how much you’ll be there for me and love me until I die.”

  “Then why can’t you just take this for what it is?” he asked. “Take what fate has handed us.”

  Tears pricked her eyes. “If moving forward were that easy I would. But there are years of hurt inside me, Anthony. I can’t ignore that.”

  “Are you saying I can? I’m here for you, Charlie. You and Lily. I’m not going anywhere and, more than that, I’m sticking closer than I ever have. I know I’m going to have to earn back your trust, but I swear I’ll always be there when you need me. My priorities are shifting back into the right order.”

  Charlotte gazed into his eyes, wanting to believe every word he said. Wanting him to believe them, too.

  “I would’ve given you a baby at any time,” she whispered. “I would’ve given you a family.”

  “I never thought I would be ready,” he admitted, glancing down to Lily, then back to Charlotte. “I didn’t know how this would change my life, our marriage. I guess I always had a fear of the unknown. That’s no excuse, but I’m being honest.”

  Which she appreciated.

  “And now?” she asked. “Are you ready now?”

  “I love Lily as if she were my own.”

  He stared at her a moment longer, then came to his full height. He leaned over, kissed Lily on the head before moving his lips to land on Charlotte’s cheek.

  The whisper-soft touch had her rippling with delight and lowering her lids as if to savor the moment.

  “We can talk after you lay her down,” he whispered against her skin. “I’ll be in our bedroom.”

  She didn’t even bother correcting him. That spacious master bedroom overlooking the lake wasn’t “their” room anymore, but arguing with him was pointless. He was dead set on getting this marriage back on track, and if he devoted as much time to making it work as he did to just talking about it, they’d certainly have no problem reconciling.

  Is that what he wanted to discuss? Did he expect her to remain in their Hollywood Hills home after the ninety days were up?

  There was no way she could make any promises or plans that far ahead. She’d always been a planner, but there was so much uncertainty in her life right now. She hated not having that stability she’d grown so accustomed to.

  He hadn’t exactly answered her question—that didn’t slip by her. Was he ready to be a fully devoted father, husband? Could he really balance that very fine line between career and personal life and be happy? Because as much as she wanted him to be a husband and father, she also didn’t want him to be miserable.

  There had to be a happy medium somewhere. They just had to find it.

  In no time Lily was asleep. Charlotte sat her up for a minute or two to make sure the formula settled and wouldn’t cause reflux. Quietly, she laid her down in the crib and smiled at the sleeping bundle. There was nothing more precious.

  After closing the door, Charlotte took the bottle downstairs to the kitchen to rinse it in the sink. She went ahead and fully washed it, placing it in the drying rack because she needed the extra few minutes to gear up her strength to face her husband.

  That was a low trick he’d pulled earlier in the pool, and she wasn’t the least bit amused.

  She dried her hands on the towel and headed back up the stairs to the ma
ster suite. Anthony wasn’t in the room but out on the balcony. He’d left the doors open, and the soft, late summer breeze from the lake blew in the sheers.

  The scene was set as if Anthony the director had worked one-on-one with Mother Nature to create the perfect setting to entice her. And like the moth drawn to the flame, Charlotte followed the gentle lake winds and stepped onto the balcony.

  “I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable,” he told her the second she came to stand beside him and rest her back against the concrete rail.

  Okay, not what she’d expected to hear, but she’d see where he went with this.

  “My original intention in having you here in Tahoe was to seduce you, to make you see what amazing chemistry we have so you couldn’t walk away. But that was shallow and wrong. You need so much more. We need so much more than sex to make this work.” He sighed and hung his head between his shoulders before looking back out into the night. “I didn’t know how much before we came here.”

  Charlotte swallowed, lacing her fingers over her abdomen, moving her head to the side to allow the wind to blow her hair out of her face so she could focus on the man who was attempting to bare his soul. “But what do we have?”

  With his forearms resting on the rail, he turned and looked up at her. “We have a broken past, but I hope we have a loving, solid future.”

  She took a deep breath before broaching the topic that had been a bone of contention with them for years. “Will you go to counseling with me?”

  He bit the inside of his cheek. He knew she’d ask. What did it matter how many times a week they had sex? Did he leave the seat up or down? And did he ever do spontaneous things to surprise her?

  That’s how the first, and only, session had gone. But if answering private questions would help him keep his wife, he’d answer each one of them with pleasure.

  “Charlie.” He sighed. “I don’t think—”

  “Forget it.” She held up a hand and let out a wry laugh. “I knew you wouldn’t want to do it. I was hoping that since you decided to come here, to really spend time together and work things out, that you might work with me on this.”

  The hurt in her voice sent a shooting pain through him.

  He wasn’t going to lie to himself and pretend that he was ready to be put under the microscope again. He wanted time alone with his wife and he wanted to build this marriage from the ground up, if needed. Then they could speak to a counselor.

  “Okay,” he told her. “I’ll do anything to keep you, Charlie. Anything. And if opening up and sharing everything will make this marriage stronger, then I’ll do it. I actually have asked a few friends who they would recommend, and I have a couple names of reputable therapists.”

  The look on Charlotte’s face was more than worth the embarrassment or discomfort he might experience by talking out his problems with a stranger. He wasn’t lying when he said he’d do anything for her.

  “Anthony, you don’t know how much this means to me,” she told him, then kissed him on the cheek.

  A warm, hopeful peace settled over him, and Anthony prayed this was the track that they were supposed to be on.

  Ten

  “Good morning.”

  Charlotte rolled over, the satin sheets swishing around her bare legs, and squinted her eyes at the intruder.

  “You slept a little late this morning, so Lily and I decided to surprise you.”

  Charlotte looked beyond the bright sun streaming into the guest bedroom at the man who juggled a baby on his left hip and held a small tray of food in his right hand. He set the tray down on her bedside table, then shifted Lily and smiled.

  “Surprise,” he said with a big, sexy grin. “We made your favorite breakfast.”

  To think just a week ago he’d been unable to even hold Lily without her crying, and here he’d managed to make breakfast with the little one in tow.

  Intrigued, Charlotte peeked over and, sure enough, a plate full of French toast, complete with maple syrup and powdered sugar, stared back at her. A single red rose lay along the edge of the tray. He was changing. Each day he was becoming more and more the man she needed. And last night he’d not only agreed to therapy, he’d looked into it already.

  They were moving forward and for the first time in longer than she could remember, they’d stayed up late and actually talked…with their clothes on. After she’d told him about the miscarriage, he’d been so genuinely concerned with her emotions, her feelings. She’d never seen that side of him before.

  And now he stood before her looking so sexy with a goofy apron around his waist, a baby on his hip and a full-fledged smile on his face. Yeah, this was a level of love she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

  If only the tabloids could see Mr. Hotshot Director now.

  “It smells great.” She sat up in bed, adjusting her gown over her breasts. “What made you do this?”

  Lily started reaching for Charlotte and Anthony sat her on the bed next to his wife. “I wanted to,” he told her.

  She glanced his way curiously, hoping he’d elaborate, but obviously the answer was that simple. He was working extra hard to showcase a new side. And she loved this new Mr. Mom angle. She only prayed he wouldn’t tire of this life of family and domestic bliss.

  “Thanks.” Charlotte looked down at Lily and kissed her on the nose. “Thanks to you, too, Lily Bug.”

  “Do I get a kiss? I did all the cooking, after all.”

  She glanced up at him and rolled her eyes. “Is that why you did this? To get affection?”

  His devious smile widened. “No, but I’ll still take it.”

  Loving this sweet, playful side, Charlotte shrugged. “Let me see how it tastes first, then we’ll see how much affection you deserve.”

  He leaned down close to her ear and whispered, “It’s so good, you’ll have to show me your thanks in private.”

  As he eased up, Charlotte caught his gaze roaming down the gap in her silk gown. Her nipples pebbled as his eyes grew darker with desire.

  She loved this man. There was no off button to protect her from his charms and passion. She just wished she knew how exactly this would end up for her, for them. Could they really be this happy, fun-loving family once Anthony’s career intervened again?

  “I’ll let you eat while it’s hot.” He scooped up Lily, who instantly began to cry. “Oh, come on,” he begged. “We’ve made such progress.”

  Charlotte smiled. “Just leave her with me. We’re fine.”

  Easing Lily back onto the bed amid a pile of pillows, Charlotte scooted over and took the tray Anthony handed her.

  “Did she already have something to eat?” Charlotte asked.

  “I fed her some apricots and she had half a bottle. I’ll go clean up the kitchen because it seems she wasn’t a fan of the apricots, and the mess under the high chair is horrendous. It looks like the jar of baby food was massacred.”

  Charlotte laughed. “Lily, you have to eat your fruits and veggies. You want to get big and strong like Uncle Anthony, don’t you?”

  Lily smiled and squealed, crawling over the pillows to reach for a piece of French toast.

  “No, no,” Charlotte said, moving the plate aside.

  “I can take her,” Anthony offered, reaching forward.

  Charlotte held up a hand. “No, really. Go clean up the mess.”

  Anthony left her alone with her breakfast and a very chatty, grabby baby.

  “How can I resist him?” Charlotte asked Lily. “He made breakfast in bed, fed you and is now cleaning. And he is making arrangements so I’m part of his new family. What woman wouldn’t want that for a husband?”

  Charlotte’s tears spilled over and trickled down her cheeks. What woman indeed?

  * * *

  Charlotte was relaxing in the window s
eat, discreetly reading a book on pregnancy she’d packed for the trip and now had hidden inside a magazine when the doorbell rang.

  Before she could get up, Anthony came sprinting through the kitchen, past the living area and yelled, “I got it.”

  Intrigued, Charlotte closed the magazine over the book and set it on the seat beside her, watching as Anthony opened the door. His body blocked the guest, so Charlotte got up and moved closer.

  What was he up to? The way he’d run through the house made her realize he knew exactly who this mystery guest was. Another surprise?

  She looked down at her leggings and off-the-shoulder T-shirt. Not exactly the perfect ensemble for company, but she’d felt a bit nauseous earlier and hadn’t had the energy to put on anything fancier. Added to that, she was mentally exhausted from the phone calls and emails she’d worked on for the past few hours regarding the dedication of the new wing at the hospital. She’d forgotten how many details there were to finalize before such an extravagant event. The last major event she’d coordinated for the hospital took place nearly two years ago.

  “Please come in,” Anthony said to the guest after a minute of low murmuring.

  “Good afternoon, Mrs. Price.”

  Charlotte smiled at Margaret, one of their loyal staff they used when they visited this property. “Hello, Margaret. Good to see you again.”

  The middle-aged lady smiled, darting a glance to Anthony. “Is Lily ready to go?”

  Lily?

  “What’s going on?” Charlotte asked. “Where is Lily going?”

  Like any obedient employee, Margaret kept her mouth shut and allowed Anthony to answer.

  “Lily is going to spend the afternoon at the park playing with Margaret’s grandchildren. I have a surprise for you.”

  Charlotte’s mind went into overdrive. “But I’m not dressed and Lily’s bag isn’t packed.”

  “That’s what I was doing while you were working on emails for the hospital.” Anthony smiled. “Lily woke from her nap and I kept her entertained with toys while I packed a bag for Margaret. Everything’s all taken care of, so why don’t you go put on a nice dress.”