In Colton's Custody

by Dana Nussio

  “Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “I didn’t want to wake you. It’s getting late, and I need to get home.”

  Her gaze flicked to the clock, which read just after one in the morning. He was right. It was late, and, like her, he had a child waiting for him at home.

  “Marlowe’s probably waiting up for you with Harper.”

  “More like asleep on the couch in my suite, but, yeah, she’s waiting.”

  After having little success getting his boot on while standing, Asher sat on the edge of the mattress, slipped on both and then stood again. He took several steps away from the bed and gestured back to it. “That, well, was...amazing.”

  “Yeah.” She chewed the side of her lower lip. “It was.”

  Her skin still tingled with the memory of his calloused fingers and soft lips discovering, adoring and memorizing her form. She still could recall with absolute clarity the perfection of his body, the scent and taste of him, his sheer masculinity. Her hand lifted, as of its own accord, to lips still sensitive and swollen from his kisses.

  “Sorry about the five o’clock shadow. I should have shaved...before, but I wasn’t expecting to, well, you know.”

  “No problem.”

  Though he’d appeared nervous before, confident Asher returned then as he stepped toward the bed again. “I guess you’ll have to marry me now and make an honest man out of me.”

  Willow’s pulse pounded in her chest. “I guess the only way you’ll know the answer to that would be for you to ask me again.”

  It would be different this time, she told herself, as she tried to inconspicuously wipe her sweaty palms on the sheet. His lovemaking had been so tender. He’d touched her as if she was precious to him. She’d finally recognized the truth in her heart that she was falling in love with him, Colton or no. Had he realized that he felt the same way about her?

  “Will you marry me, Willow Merrill? Will you take on this crazy, unpredictable world with me and our two girls? It doesn’t matter whether Harper is mine and Luna is yours, or the other way around. I just think we could make a great family together.”

  Her gaze connected with his and held for seconds or minutes as she took in his sweet message. Then she held her breath, waiting for the words that mattered most. The three words that would make the difference between a business transaction and a lifetime commitment.

  His gaze flitted to the window. “I mean, we’ve just proven how amazingly compatible we are, haven’t we?”

  An anvil seemed to lower on her chest.

  “Are you saying that because we’re good together in bed that we should just call in the minister and cut the wedding cake?”

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ve definitely heard worse reasons to get married. We already have two amazing daughters to raise. We love them both. Now we know that our private time will be comforting, as well.”

  Willow pulled the sheet tighter over her chest and drew her knees closer to her body. She’d been unclothed for a few hours, but she suddenly felt naked.

  “You’re still offering me the same marriage of convenience that’s no more romantic than mating one of your cows to a bull?”

  “The cattle probably think it’s romantic.”

  “That isn’t funny,” she spat.

  His smile disappeared. “Come on, Willow. Don’t you get what I’m offering you? Security like you’ve never known. For you and Luna.”

  How dare he use her biggest fear against her.

  “Oh, I get it, all right. Just another opportunity for the Coltons to buy whatever they want.”

  “That’s not fair. When have I ever tried to buy you or Luna?”

  You’re doing it now. She wanted to shout the words, but it already hurt so much just to think them. Why he’d even mentioned her, she didn’t know, when all he really wanted was her daughter. He had to guarantee that the child would be in his control in case the test confirmed she was a Colton heir. If not, at least he could secure quality, permanent childcare for his own child. Even after their lovemaking that had meant so much to her, for Asher, nothing had changed.

  “Please give this a chance, Willow. I will promise to love your daughter, whichever one she turns out to be, as my own. I’ll commit to support you, emotionally and physically.”

  But you won’t promise to love me. The unspoken words gripped her heart, tearing strips of flesh slowly, agonizingly, instead of ripping all at once.

  “I even promise to be faithful to you,” Asher continued, oblivious to the pain he’d inflicted. “That’s more than you can say about a lot of people.”

  She shook her head. First, security and then Xavier’s infidelity. Had he listened to her stories only to use them as ammunition later? Despite the humiliation that made her wish she could curl into herself and disappear, she met his gaze, daring him to look away.

  “Look, I know that this is a good offer for someone like me. A single mom with no father herself and no family support system at all. A Colton wants to marry me. Wants to provide a wonderful life for my child.”

  She shook her head as twin tears slid from the outside corners of her eyes. “But I can’t do it.”

  Anguish covered her as an image of her young, pregnant mother stole into her thoughts. Willow tried to push the picture away, but her mom only continued to twirl in that fantasy dress, those lovely baubles bouncing, as she dreamed of a life she would never have. Now Willow had the chance to live a life filled with every luxury and comfort her mother had longed for, as long as she was willing to give up the only thing that really mattered.

  It wasn’t enough. Not close to it.

  “I’m sorry, but I’m going to turn down your proposal again.” She wiped her tears with the corner of the sheet. “I will never marry again without love.”

  His crossed arms appeared to squeeze tighter.

  “You’re asking too much of me. You’re asking for more than I can give.”

  “I know I am. But I also know that I deserve more than you’re offering. Every woman, every person, does.”

  He opened his mouth as if he was about to say more but clicked his jaw shut instead. Then he gripped the doorknob.

  Over his shoulder, he spoke once more. “I’ll see you at the hospital tomorrow. We’ll get the results and go from there.”

  With that, he strode from the room. After a few seconds, the loud click of her apartment door filtered through the apartment. He was gone.

  As she pulled the sheet high, she gave in to her earlier temptation, rounding her shoulders and drawing her knees up tightly against her. The tears came, hot and fast, but instead of trying to wipe them away, she let them fall.

  In a few hours, she would go to that hospital with her head held high, but now, just for a few minutes, she allowed herself to grieve. So like her mother and yet so different, she would mourn the life she’d dreamed of and would never have.

  Chapter 20

  By the time that the upstairs side entrance finally opened again at Tender Years, her eyes were bleary over staring at the door for so long. Beyond that, her ears must have been bleeding from listening to him talk for the past few hours. Didn’t the guy ever shut up?

  “Oh. Look. He’s coming out. Think he’s got an extra spring in his step after all that time?”

  His horselaugh over his own joke could have made any Revenge of the Nerds character proud. Where had she found this guy? Oh, right. When you scoured the dating apps for computer whizzes who might be convinced to try their hacking skills, you couldn’t get too choosy.

  “Would you hush? Do you want to alert the neighbors? Or the rent-a-cops up the street?”

  “Sure, I can be quiet, but can you?”

  He reached over and planted his hand at the top of her thigh on her shorts, a smooth move he’d been going with all night. This time she grabbed his hand and squeezed hard. She’d be
en pawed enough, thank you very much.

  “Ouch!” He yanked it back. “You could have just said you weren’t in the mood.”

  Could she say that every time he touched her? Not if she wanted to keep her employee content and striving for that next big promotion.

  “Sorry. I was just distracted.” She put his hand back on the spot herself.

  “Because Asher Colton’s wasting all that beautiful money on the town babysitter?”

  If he said, “and not on you,” he would be singing soprano for a month. She would never get that lucky, to be able to snuggle up with one of the Colton boys in a duvet filled with cash. She was smart enough to know some prizes were out of reach. The guy sitting next to her would find that out soon enough, too.

  For now, though, she still needed him. She wouldn’t even have known for sure the identity of the gentleman caller if not for his special skills in accessing the Arizona Department of Transportation’s database.

  “How’d he get past those security guards anyway?”

  For a few seconds, she stared at his ugly profile, wondering how he could be that stupid.

  “You saw him talking to them, didn’t you? They either knew him or were working for him.”

  He chuckled at that. “Oops. Guess I missed that. I must have been watching someone else when he walked by the car. You pointed him out when he climbed the steps to her place.”

  “Right. I forgot.”

  She couldn’t blame him for that anyway. At least he recognized a good thing when he had it, unlike some other people she knew.

  “Is there anything you can do to revive the app campaign?”

  He shook his head. “You saw it. Most of the new reviews have already been taken down. And there’s too much focus on the one account for me to try to put them up again right now.”

  “That’s disappointing.”

  She applied her best mom’s tone, and, like she’d predicted, her discouraged assistant perked right up next to her.

  “The campaign wasn’t working anyway,” she said. “There hasn’t been any drop-off in the number of cars lined up here in the mornings and afternoons.”

  “I told you that competition is low here. Besides, the reviews weren’t up long enough to have a good impact.”

  “Then what about the complaint filed with the state?”

  He shrugged, his hand pulling away from her thigh. “I’ve been looking, but I haven’t seen any more about it. Like it’s been squashed or something.”

  “So, what you’re telling me is we’re at a big fat nowhere now.”

  “Not nowhere, exactly. The place is under more scrutiny. And parents who were paying attention are questioning their decisions to send their kids to Tender Years.”

  She smacked her palm on the steering wheel and faced him, hating his wide eyes behind those glasses. “You say it like it’s some great feat. Kind of sounds like a failure to me.”

  “I’ll think of something. You know I have mad skills. You told me so yourself. Just give me a couple of days.”

  She grinned into the darkness. If only all men were as easy to guide as this one. “You’re right. I do know that I can count on you. But in the meanwhile, I have another idea. I’m going to need a little help from you to pull it off.”

  She filled him in on the new plan, one that would require even more care and discretion. Was he up for it? She doubted it, but she had few choices, and none as pliable as this one. Besides, her time appeared to be running out if Willow Merrill was hooking up with one of the Coltons.

  “Do you think the security guards will be a problem?”

  “We’ve been sitting here monitoring them for hours, and they haven’t noticed. What do you think?”

  “Guess it should be a cakewalk.”

  Something like that. Either way, it was time for them to turn up the heat or forfeit the plan. And she wasn’t about to back off from anything until that woman felt some of the burn she deserved. If her friend there couldn’t handle it, she would take care of it herself.

  * * *

  Just as she had a little more than a week before, Willow sat in Anne Sewall’s office at Mustang Valley General, waiting for somone to show up and for her life to possibly be changed forever. At least this time she hadn’t been forced to drag her daughter along for the bumpy ride.

  She and Asher had made what she still believed was a good idea to have Harper and Luna sit this one out and allow the adults to handle it. Since Asher had dropped off his child right on schedule at the center, Willow didn’t have to question whether he’d keep his end of that bargain. So, what kind of mother was she to wish that Luna was in her arms just then as a distraction? Not one worthy of a flower greeting card on her first Mother’s Day in a few days.

  Willow braced herself as the sound of Asher’s familiar heavy footfalls in the hall outside announced his arrival. Anne appeared in the doorway first, nervous hands pushing her glasses up on her nose. Asher followed her in. Still not ready to see him again after the night before, Willow focused on the floor. Unfortunately, that gave her a perfect view of his boots. The last thing she needed was a reminder of those boots in her apartment, first holding her bare feet between them and then, later, tucked under her bed.

  “It’s good to see you again, Asher,” Anne said. “Please have a seat next to Willow. Once everyone is here, we’ll get started.”

  Everyone? Willow glanced sidelong at him as he lowered into the seat, but he was focusing on the hospital administrator, who still stood behind her chair. Asher sat straight, his hands gripped in his lap. Could even Anne recognize the chilly atmosphere in the room where the temperature seemed to threaten frostbite?

  Another set of footsteps, these with a quick clip of high heels, filtered in from the hallway. Soon, Ainsley stood in the open doorway.

  “Come on in, Miss Colton, and have a seat.”

  For the first time, Willow noticed that a third guest chair had been added to the room.

  “Willow, I’d like you to meet—”

  “Thanks, Anne, we’ve met,” Ainsley said, interrupting her. She leaned past her brother and waved. “And thanks, everyone, for waiting.”

  Willow lifted a hand to wave back, but she had the sudden sense that she was surrounded. Had Asher invited Ainsley to attend as his sister, attorney or both?

  Ainsley wore a dark jack and skirt and a prim blouse, and, yes, heels. Even Asher was dressed up for him in a white dress shirt and a pair of tan trousers. In fact, on closer inspection, his boots weren’t even the ones he’d worn the night before, but a dressier, shinier pair.

  Somehow, that made Willow more nervous. She’d taken special care with her own clothes that morning, telling herself the summer dress, sweater and flat sandals were only for receiving the results and not as armor for facing Asher again. Either way, she still felt underdressed, ill-prepared, outmatched.

  * * *

  “I have your results right here.” Anne indicated two sealed clasp envelopes placed side by side on her desk. “I will read off the results and then provide each party with copies of all the documents. Then if you need further explanations, I’ll call down to the lab. They promised they would make someone available for us.”

  “Awfully accommodating for a team that can’t seem to finish a different set of results,” Ainsley grumbled. “Or at least get them right.”

  “Miss Colton, I am so sorry about—”

  Ainsley lifted a hand to interrupt Anne again.

  “As you were saying about my brother’s case...?”

  Was her use of the word case intentional? Had Asher changed his mind after Willow had rejected his second proposal? Was he considering going for custody of both girls, after all?

  Anne cleared her throat as she lifted the first envelope and broke the seal. As the woman withdrew the stack of papers from inside, Willow held her breath.


  Strange how she still longed to reach out to Asher, though he still hadn’t looked at her and hadn’t made any gesture of support to her. They’d gone from enemies to friends to lovers and back, and part of her still needed for them to at least be allies.

  The administrator pushed up her glasses again and studied the first sheet for several seconds. When her expression gave away nothing, Willow was tempted to rip it out of her hands.

  “In the case of the child, Harper Grace Colton, the alleged father, Asher Colton, is not excluded as the biological father with a probability of paternity of 99.9998 percent.”

  “Not excluded?” Asher asked.

  Ainsley patted his arm. “It means that you’re her dad.”

  “That’s what the Combined Paternity Index ratio shows,” Anne agreed.

  Asher’s breath whooshed out, and he leaned forward, planting his elbows on his knees and catching his forehead in his splayed hands. “I knew she was mine.”

  Anne looked back to the paper and began reading again. “The alleged mother, Willow Merrill, is excluded as a biological parent.”

  The results were what Willow had known in her heart all along, so she couldn’t explain her nervousness as the administrator opened the second envelope. Did she expect confetti to fall out along with the announcement that though Harper wasn’t hers, Luna wasn’t, either?

  “In the case of Luna Mariana Merrill, the alleged mother, Willow Merrill, is not excluded as the biological mother.”

  “Thank God,” she called out, the voice sounding as if it had come from someone else.

  Anne said more about overwhelming statistical probability backing up the claim when comparing specific alleles from Luna’s DNA against Willow’s and then other unrelated women. But for Willow, the words not excluded repeated on a loop.

  “So, the results say I’m Luna’s mother?”

  “Yes, they show the statistical likelihood that you are.” Anne’s expression was carefully blank as if she understood the tightrope she walked.

  “And they’re definitive?” Willow asked again.