Billionaire’s Missing Baby (A BWWM Romance)

by Kayla Watkins

  They’d started drinking early, and Dana didn’t usually drink hard liquor. The vodka might have been going to her head, but she began to relax into the act, into this game they were playing. She found it easier and easier to forget that she and Andrew weren’t really engaged. When she finished her first fence hopper, Dana accepted just one more, and sipped it much more slowly than the first.

  They were all midway through a decadent orange-glazed lamb when Louis Marcel suddenly looked over and smiled. “You know,” he said thoughtfully. “You two look so good together. You just… match, you know? It’s going to be a beautiful wedding. I’m sorry I’m not on the guest list!”

  Instinctively Dana opened her mouth to extend him an invitation when Andrew cut her off delicately. “The venue we’re looking at just won’t have the space for more than a hundred, unfortunately. It’s a colonial-era chapel, almost three hundred years old. They told me over the phone that John Adams married his wife there. I kind of doubt that, but it is perfect. Too perfect to change, now.”

  Stunned, Dana stared at Andrew, wondering if he had any idea how wonderful that sounded. As an artist, she could already picture it: a sunny morning, a quaint little church. Maybe a church bell, ringing as they walked out together. Dana shook her head and tried to rein in her stray daydreams. She eyed her drink—maybe vodka in a semi-formal setting was not such a great idea.

  The conversation turned to more neutral topics, mostly discussion of the community center. On this, Andrew shook out of his silence and became animated, excited. Another two hours passed easily this way, looking forward to the future and the good that Bellwethers and Westcorp could accomplish together.

  Dana couldn’t help but smile listening to him. Was there ever a businessman who was such an optimist? He talked like this community center could solve all social ills, fix every problem. Maybe it could. Maybe bringing people together was really the answer. Dana’s second drink was about half gone, and she’d started to drink water instead—even so, as she watched Andrew and listened to his voice, she didn’t feel her head clearing like it was supposed to.

  Strange and half-formed thoughts kept surfacing. It kept occurring to her that she had never met anyone so devoted and so determined as Andrew, and yet so kind. In all her life, she’d never seen these qualities exist so harmonious in one person. And for the first time, Dana realized how unique Andrew was. There was no one else like him.

  At that thought, she put the drink down for good. This was not an appropriate train of thought, not for their situation. They were only pretending to be engaged. How crazy would he think she was if he knew what was going through her mind?

  Dana mentally shook herself. She was just getting too far into the act. Andrew was a nice man, and a good friend, but that was all. It would benefit no one to get carried away in all this foolishness. In the end, she would just make herself look silly, letting herself get caught up in their own scheme.

  But it wouldn’t hurt anything to just sit here and watch him some more, laugh with him. Dana began to forget Lauren Marcel’s odd behavior and Louis Marcel’s ongoing chatter. After dinner they lounged around the sitting room for a while longer as the night marched onward. The Marcels offered them wine. That was much safer than the mixed drinks, so Dana accepted a glass—although Andrew declined, citing the need to drive home.

  The time to leave arrived sometime near midnight. The valet fetched Andrew’s company car and brought it around, just as a light drizzle of autumn rain began to fall. Louis Marcel clucked his tongue.

  “You could stay the night here,” he offered. “It’d be a shame to drive the Lambo in this.”

  Although Lauren looked ready to spit fire at this suggestion, Dana chuckled a little at the absurdity of taking shelter here just to spare the car. Andrew shook his head. “No can do, Louis. I have to be in the office in the morning, and it’s a long drive there from here.”

  Louis nodded and shook Andrew’s hand. “Until next week, then.”

  “Next week.” Andrew opened Dana’s door for her as he waved goodbye to the Marcels.

  The Lamborghini roared to life and then the manor house was disappearing into the night, its half a hundred windows gleaming gold against the dark. Dana sighed, content and warm in her coat, and settled in for the long trip back. They were on their way back into the city, together. On the way back home.

  Chapter 12

  By the time the clock on the dash read 12:07, the rain was steady and Dana was drifting in the seat beside him. Out of the corner of his eye, he’d watched her begin to close hers, then lean a bit against the door. She didn’t strike him as the type who stayed up all night, even on her days off, and Andrew was glad that she didn’t have to work tomorrow. After he’d kept her out later than usual, he couldn’t stand to think that he might also have made the following day at the office miserable for her.

  Neither did she seem the type to drink. He’d noticed her disappearing anxiety the further into her fence hopper she dived—it had taken him too long to realize that she was actually getting a little drunk, not just gaining confidence. He’d been happy when the conversation turned to business, and Dana was content to listen. She couldn’t accidentally let the cat out of the bag just by listening.

  Louis Marcel seemed to have eaten up their story without question, for which Andrew was grateful. No, grateful was not a desperate enough term. Andrew was full of on-his-knees gratitude to God or fate or luck or whatever force had made it possible to slide through the night without slipping up. If this benevolent influence could just continue for another week or so… the charity ball where Westcorp and Bellwethers announced their partnership would be the Monday after next, and after that, it didn’t matter what Louis Marcel thought or knew.

  To be fair, Andrew had careful plans to ease out of the lie. If all the stars aligned and he played his cards right, Andrew could avoid Marcel ever having to know about the false engagement. In a month or so, he would act depressed and reserved, and eventually admit to Louis that Dana had asked to call off the wedding. These things happened. It wasn’t meant to be. Much regret and mournful sighing. But, the project was already underway, too late to stop now.

  It would be perfect, smooth as silk. And Louis Marcel need never know there was ever a deception.

  Andrew looked at Dana again and wondered if she would want to know his exit strategy. It had been hard enough on her wrapping her mind around the thought of lying to complete strangers this way, Andrew couldn’t say for sure whether she would be relieved or saddened to hear his plans to pull them both out of the web. She probably wouldn’t be as gleeful at the thought of a clean getaway as Andrew was.

  He decided not to mention it until she asked. Maybe she would never ask. In the long run, though, if he could make the situation easier for her in any way at all, Andrew wanted to do it.

  Unbidden, the thought of Lauren Marcel, and her terrible treatment of Dana, swam to the top of Andrew’s thoughts, and he gripped the steering wheel a little harder.

  Dana started suddenly, shocking herself awake. She blinked sleepily at the window, at the gas stations and convenience stores and distant suburbs that had popped up suddenly as they zoomed along the freeway. She hugged her red coat tighter around herself.

  “I’m not used to staying out this late,” she explained with a sheepish smile. “I’m usually asleep pretty early.”

  “I figured,” Andrew replied, grinning a little. “We’re almost back in the city. We’ll probably have to fight through traffic, but I think I can get you home before one.”

  Dana whistled softly. “I don’t even remember the last time I stayed out until one. Maya will think I’m going wild.”

  Andrew still hadn’t met Maya, but he knew her well through Dana’s many stories. He relaxed a little at the thought. “Next thing you know, you’ll be skydiving and learning to underwater basket-weave. I’ve been a bad influence.”

  Dana laughed. God, she had such a nice laugh, and she did it often, without
reservation. She loved to laugh, and it made the day—or night—around her brighter.

  “I’m going to sleep well tonight,” she sighed. “I’ll probably still be sleeping well tomorrow, too. Are you all right driving?”

  “Of course,” Andrew nodded. “I mean, I’m a little sleepy, but I’ll be okay. We’re almost back in the city.”

  “But then we’ll be sitting through traffic forever,” Dana sighed. She watched New York flash past for a few minutes, then turned back to him. “So… do you think we convinced them?”

  The question wasn’t unexpected. Andrew frowned as he considered his answer, and thought back to their night at the Marcels’. “Louis believes us. Definitely. He’s completely sold.”

  He knew right away that Dana wasn’t fooled. It was a dodging answer, and she was a smart woman. “And?”

  Yep, she knew. “And what?” he replied coyly.

  She scowled at him, although even a scowl looked cheerful on her face. “Don’t ‘And what?’ me, Andrew. What else? You think Louis believes us—and what else?”

  How could he possibly say this to her? Andrew rolled his thoughts around in his head for a while, trying to figure out how to say this without upsetting her. It was upsetting him enough just thinking about it. Finally, he sighed.

  “Didn’t you notice how rude Mrs. Marcel was to you?”

  From the look on Dana’s face, she hadn’t. Her expression was one of pure, guileless surprise, and it occurred to Andrew that she really hadn’t noticed.

  “What?” Dana asked, although it sounded like a standard question, a response that slips out when you don’t what else to say? “Rude—to me?”

  “Yes.” Of course Dana hadn’t thought it was directed at her. She thought the best of everybody. “She seemed mad at Louis, which I don’t know anything about. When I spoke, she almost seemed friendly at times. She even smiled once or twice. But whenever you said anything…”

  “Yeah,” Dana agreed softly. “I guess she was.” Apprehensive, Andrew watched her as the realization settled. She sighed heavily. Some of her cheer had subsided, which made Andrew even angrier at Lauren Marcel. “Well… There’s not really anything I can do about that. I probably won’t see her again anyway, right?”

  Andrew nodded eagerly. “Yes—no, I mean. I doubt either of us are going to be seeing her again, except maybe at the charity ball, but we won’t have to talk to her if we don’t want to. And believe me, I don’t want to.”

  Dana smiled a little. “Why, Andrew—are you getting defensive of me?”

  The bottom dropped out of Andrew’s stomach. That was exactly what he was feeling, defensive, irritated that anyone had thought they could treat Dana that way, right in front of him! Even more annoyed that there had been practically nothing he could do. True, they could have walked out of the Marcel’s. Maybe that’s what he should have done—just taken Dana’s hand and told the Marcels to shove it.

  But then… what was the point of that? He was only with Dana at all to gain Louis’ approval, wasn’t he?

  His earlier thoughts were coming back to him, and Andrew had to bat them away before the cozy, warm interior of the car and his aloneness with Dana got him thinking things inappropriate to time and place.

  “I just don’t think she had any right to be so rude to you,” Andrew replied finally.

  Dana set a hand on his arm. “Oh, Andrew, please don’t worry about it. It doesn’t bother me—really! I mean, people are rude all the time. Besides. We don’t know why she was angry. We don’t know what’s going on in her life. It’s not right to judge people without knowing the whole story.”

  Shocked, Andrew couldn’t do anything but concentrate on the road for a minute. The thought that anyone could be so perfect… Real people didn’t think the way Dana did. Real people were petty and selfish, real people were flawed. What was someone like Dana doing out here in the real world?

  “I… I’m glad it didn’t bother you,” he said finally. It was underwhelming compared to the thoughts in his head, but he didn’t dare speak those. No, no, he didn’t dare give voice to those…

  “Well, it was pretty uncomfortable, I have to admit,” Dana sat up straighter as they began to slow, getting clogged into the flow of city traffic. “I don’t know how anyone could act that way! I’d be so embarrassed if I treated anyone like that. I don’t think I could bear to.”

  No, Andrew agreed in his head. I don’t think you could, either.

  She frowned a little. “My head is going to hurt tomorrow, though. Vodka isn’t really my drink of choice.” Dana chuckled. “I don’t drink liquor enough to even have a drink of choice.”

  “They say coffee helps,” Andrew suggested. “I don’t see you drink coffee very often. Maybe you could pick up a cup in the morning?”

  “I might go for a cup tonight,” Dana answered, twisting her lips in a thoughtful frown. “Honestly, I don’t want Maya to think I’m wandering in drunk at one in the morning.” This made her chuckle wryly. Even Andrew had to smile at the image.

  “There’s a twenty-four hour Starbucks just down the street from my condo,” he said. “We could get two on the go.”

  “That sounds great! I wonder if they’re busy this late…”

  It was another hour before Andrew handed the Lamborghini’s keys to the round-the-clock valet outside his building. They walked from there to the Starbucks (“I doubt I’ll be able to find parking any closer than this, anyway”). Andrew was glad Dana had opted to get a cup of coffee with him. She wasn’t full-on wasted, but her steps were a little uncertain. Part of that was surely exhaustion, but not all.

  “So, this charity ball,” she asked as they waited for their order. “Is it just a dinner event? Like a fundraiser for the project?”

  “Yes and no. It’s actually not for the project at all—the Annual Autumn Ball is a fundraiser we do every year around this time. Everybody does this sort of thing in spring and summer, or when the holidays come around. So Bellwethers holds our own in the fall, when there aren’t so many other events happening.”

  “What does that have to do with the community center?” Their order was called at this point. Dana and Andrew picked up their coffee cups and ventured back out into the night. The early hours of the morning in New York were a dangerous time, but the street here was well-lit and they didn’t have any trouble.

  “Want to stay for a while?” Andrew asked, hesitating near the valet. “We can hang out for a little before you go home. You know, give the coffee time to take effect. I mean, I can drive you home right away, if you prefer…”

  “No, that’s sounds good,” Dana said before he could finish. “If you don’t mind, that is?”

  “Not at all.” Andrew punched in the code and the door clicked open. The entry hall was warmer than outside, which was a relief. Winter was catching up fast, and this time of night was chilly as a deep freezer, plus the rain.

  They climbed in the elevator, and Andrew began to understand that they were alone together. He was bringing her up to his condo, alone, in the middle of the night. His throat tightened, and his pulse jumped a little, thinking what it looked like.

  With his other thoughts lately, her nearness and the empty apartment waiting upstairs, Andrew suddenly wasn’t sure he should have invited her up. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, and he couldn’t ask her to leave now without being rude. Too late to avoid it. He would just have to make it through.

  And yet, Nick’s advice rang in his ears. Don’t do anything stupid…

  The elevator opened and they stepped out to the entryway he shared with the other tenant on this floor. Dana stood next to him, sipping her latte as if she hadn’t a care in the world, as he unlocked his door and they stepped inside.

  His condo looked just the same as always. The cleaning crew he had on retainer had been in yesterday, and the worst of Gandalf’s hair was absent. It still looked just as simple and lonely as it had when he left earlier in the day, except now, with Dana, it felt more al
ive. He wondered if she felt it, too. Was it possible that she felt it?

  Dana gravitated to Gandalf immediately, to which the big lounging cat had no objection. He was soon purring loud enough to hear from where Andrew still stood by the coatrack. Andrew pulled off his coat and hung it up, then took Dana’s and did the same.

  “You hardly spend any time at home, huh?” Dana asked him suddenly.

  “Well… I guess I don’t. Why?”

  Dana scratched between Gandalf’s ears and made an exaggerated pouting face at Andrew. “Because this poor guy is starved for attention.”

  Gandalf’s eyes were narrowed happily as Dana rubbed under his chin. He seemed to be either glaring or gloating at Andrew. Andrew grinned.

  “I have been really busy lately. I’ve practically lived at the office for the last four months—late nights designing and proofing the details of this whole community center project.”

  “I guess it’s good you don’t really have a fiancée,” Dana teased. They sat on the couch, Gandalf curled against Dana’s leg. “She’d never see you.”

  Andrew shrugged. “That’s really why I don’t have a wife or a girlfriend,” Andrew admitted. “Or a fiancée. I don’t even have time to meet one, to begin with. And then, it would be pretty unfair to any woman to have to share me with my job like that.”

  Dana nodded. “I can see that. You’ve definitely got a workaholic’s life, Andrew. Don’t you do anything for fun?”

  “Honestly, this dinner tonight is the closest I’ve come to fun in a long time.”

  Dana made a face. “That’s not good!”

  Andrew laughed. “I don’t really go out and do social things. If I can ever stop working, I usually just stay home. I like movies. I used to go Star Wars nights over at the Theater 6 every year, but I haven’t gone in a while… yeah, I guess I really do need to think of something to do for fun every now and then.”