Garth: Arranged Marriage (Members From Money Book 15)

by Katie Dowe

  “I am pregnant!” she burst out.

  “What?” He stared at her in shock! He had been so worried about her that he had been tempted to leave the office and come right over to find out if she was okay.

  “We are going to be parents, darling, and I am not going to let your negativity and bad attitude affect this moment in my life,” she warned him.

  He felt his body tremble. She was carrying his child! She squealed a little as he grabbed her and spun her into his arms. “This is great!”

  “Wait!” She struggled out of his arms and stepped away from him. “Is it great because it gives you a better chance for getting the company or is it great because you want to be a father?”

  “If I say both are you going to bite my head off?” he asked her warily.

  “I can live with that.” She grinned at him. “So now what?”

  “Now I am no longer mad at you.” He pulled her into his arms and kissed her thoroughly.

  “I am no longer mad at you too,” she whispered as she trembled against him.

  “Good.” He scooped her up into his arms and headed for the bedroom.

  *****

  “When did this happen?” Selene stared at her furiously as if she was personally responsible for wrecking their plans. They had gone to Doctor Whittingham to make sure first before calling a meeting at his mother’s place to make the announcements.

  “I will be delivering in August,” Olivia told the woman airily.

  “And we are getting married in April.”

  “How convenient,” Selene sneered.

  “Isn’t it?” Olivia stared her down and Margaret hid a smile.

  “Come! Come.” Blake Heywood stepped in with a charming smile on his handsome face. “This is a cause for celebration. Two additions to the family.” He turned to his nephew. “I guess this means you have won.”

  “I am actually not thinking about that right now,” Garth told him coolly.

  “Aren’t you?” Selene asked him bitterly. “I am going to prove that you two hatched a plan to get pregnant so you can get control of the company that so rightfully belongs to my husband.”

  “How are you going to prove that?” Olivia got to her feet and faced the fake blonde bitch. “Are you going to prove that Garth and I never had totally hot and mind blowing sex in my apartment, in his apartment, and on top of the marble counter top in his kitchen? Are you going to prove that we cannot keep our hands off each other?”

  Everyone in the room stared at her with different reactions on their faces. Margaret wanted to burst out laughing! Garth almost groaned at her words and both Selene and Blake were shocked at her bluntness.

  “So are we good?” she asked them. “Because right now I am starving and even though I might puke my guts out I am going to try and eat something.”

  “Of course.” Blake forced himself to be civil giving his wife a warning look.

  Garth came over and took her arm, a dazed smile on his face as they went to dinner.

  *****

  “You are making me dizzy,” Blake said wryly as Selene paced the length of their bedroom. “You are getting too emotional.”

  “And you are not being emotional enough.” She turned to him on the bed furiously. “That bitch made me look like a fool and you did not say anything.”

  “You made yourself look like a fool.” He puffed on the cigar in his mouth and stared at her through the wisps of smoke. The boy was cleverer than he had thought and he had been studying him throughout the evening and it just might be real. The boy looked besotted and the girl looked as if she would kill for him. “Unless she somehow lost the child then there is nothing we can do.”

  Selene stopped and stared at him for a moment and then a smile lit up her face. “That can be arranged,” she said slowly.

  “What are you thinking?” he growled.

  “Don’t worry about it. We are getting the company.”

  *****

  He kept staring at her when they were driving back to his apartment. He had seen the looks Selene had given her but she handled herself like a pro and he respected and admired her for that. She was not easily browbeaten and he liked that.

  “I think I am going to love living here,” she said as she threw her jacket on the sofa in the living room and took off her boots leaving them same place. Garth took them up, putting her jacket on the rack and her boots in the foyer. He had to admit that he was getting used to her untidiness. “Is that so?” he asked her mildly as he headed for the kitchen. “Would you like some tea?”

  “I ate that lobster quiche and did not hurl. I think our child is going to be a seafood person like me,” she told him with a smile as she hopped onto the stool.

  “Maybe.” He put the kettle on. “You were great back there. A little too much information but great nonetheless.”

  “Thank you.” She bowed gracefully and grinned. “I think I have gotten myself an enemy.”

  “Selene?” He turned and started making preparations for the tea. “Don’t worry about her.”

  “You don’t like her, do you? I get it that she is as annoying and fake as hell but I have a feeling it is more than that.”

  “What makes you think that?” He poured the water in the cup and avoided her eyes.

  “The way she looks at you and the way you avoid looking at her. Did you sleep with her?”

  He looked at her in shock. “No! How could you think that?”

  Understanding dawned. “She wanted to sleep with you!”

  He passed the cup to her. “Leave it alone.”

  “I am going to be your wife and the mother of your child. There is no way I am leaving it alone.” She blew on her tea and looked up at him. “I am waiting.”

  He gave her a fulminating stare and she almost grinned. “It happened when I was a teenager,” he said reluctantly and gave her the details.

  “That bitch!” she swore causing him to stare at her. “What?”

  “You have a very colorful language.”

  “Don’t worry, I will curb it when the baby is here.” She slid off the stool and came around to him. “I am having your baby,” she whispered as she wrapped her hands around his neck.

  “I know,” he said huskily as he lifted her into his arms.

  “The tea!” she murmured as he carried her to the bedroom.

  “Later,” he whispered as he lowered his head to hers.

  Chapter 7

  “What are we watching?” he asked her lightly as she brought the popcorn and sat on his lap. He had become accustomed to her doing things like that and he did not stiffen up anymore. His birthday had been on January second and she had found it out from his mother and had baked him a cake much to his shocked surprise. It was now the beginning of February and she was going into her second month of pregnancy. Their engagement had made the papers and Leesa and Kelly had called saying that they were available to help her with the planning.

  “The Twilight movie.” She leaned back against him and plucked some popcorn out of the huge container and fed him some to his amusement. It was Saturday and it was snowing so they had decided to stay in.

  “What?”

  She sighed and told him about the movie. “I fell in love with Edward and Jacob of course but Edward is intense and kind of brooding at first. Reminds me of you.” She looked up at him and his eyes met hers. She swung her gaze back to the movie. “They got married against all odds and being human and a vampire were dangerous combination but they did it anyway and it was shaky at first but it worked out. Love conquers all.”

  “You really believe that, don’t you?” he murmured, his eyes caught by the couple on the screen. It was a first for him. He was not one to sit and watch a movie on television. His very rare spare time was spent at the club mingling with others like him. He had been with her for several months now and he found himself doing odd things, like sitting at the kitchen counter and having meals.

  “I do.” She took the popcorn from him and put it on the table
before turning off the television.

  “It’s not finished,” he protested.

  “So you like it.”

  “I thought you did.”

  “I have watched for like a million times so I am well versed.” She rested back in his arms. “You believe in love too but you just don’t know it.”

  “Is that so?” he asked her softly. She had put on a simple blue cotton dress and the color was amazing against her coffee and cream complexion. Her hair which she had put up in an untidy bun was falling all over her face which was devoid of makeup but was the most exquisite one he had ever seen. He felt mellow and soft when he was with her and when he thought of her and he had no idea what was happening.

  “I think I am falling in love with you if I have not fully done so already.” She smiled slightly as he stiffened beneath her.

  “That was not the arrange-”

  “Not part of the arrangement. I know,” she ended. He had removed his arms from around her and she got up from his lap. “If it was contagious you would have caught it long ago,” she told him dryly. “What are you afraid of?”

  He got up abruptly and went to the window. He wanted to tell her that he was afraid of being vulnerable and weak. He wanted to tell her that he was afraid that she had started to muddle his brain and he was finding that he could not be without her. He wanted to tell her that he was as scared as hell!

  “Garth?”

  He turned to face her. “I can’t.”

  “Can’t what?”

  “I cannot do this,” he told her grimly, his green eyes wintry. “I should have known you would be expecting a happy home and that does not exist.”

  “Says who?” she demanded as she got to her feet.

  “Look around you,” he said impatiently.

  “Your club members have proven different.”

  “They are the exceptions to the rule.”

  “You are a coward.”

  “What?” He stared at her angrily.

  “I said it, Garth. You are a damned coward. You have done things a certain way all your life. Maybe in the circle of your family you have seen the effect of marriages gone wrong because of lack of love and respect but it is not going to happen to us.”

  “Why?” he asked her coldly. “How do you know that? Because you think you are in love with me now?”

  “Because I know I am in love with you in spite of the jerk you can be sometimes,” she told him coolly. “I am not afraid to say the words, Garth, and I am not afraid to let people know that I love you and I am ecstatic to be carrying your child no matter what you feel.”

  “I am sorry,” he muttered.

  “So am I. But I always live in hope, Garth, and I hope and believe that you are going to admit how you feel about me one day soon.”

  “You are not upset?” He stared at her tensely wondering what kind of a woman she was.

  “Not anymore.” She walked over and getting on her toes she wrapped her arms around his neck. “How about we finish watching the rest of the movie?”

  *****

  Selene hatched her plan and waited. She pretended that she had gotten over her initial anger and resentment and was very charming at dinners and functions that they went to as a family. She would watch as the girl smiled and preened for the press and behaved as if she belonged. It was the middle of March so she was four months pregnant. Very soon they would know the sex of the child she was carrying and in April they would be married and then it would be too late! She had never regretted not having children because she personally thought that they took too much time and effort she was not prepared to share. But maybe she should have insisted to Blake to let them have a child since it was so important to getting what they wanted but now it was too late. She took a flute of champagne from the passing waiter and sipped it. It was one of the inane and tiring functions that the so called ‘wives’ of the members of the club had put on. Olivia was highly involved these days and they had welcomed her like a long lost friend but barely tolerated her. Her eyes swivelled to where her husband was and she stiffened as she noticed that he was much too close to a stunningly beautiful socialite who had just been divorced. Her body tightened as he bent to whisper something in the woman’s ear that caused her to laugh. She had tolerated his infidelities for years knowing that he always come home to her but it was getting to her now. She figured that if she succeeded into getting the company for him he would finally love her and she would have something to hold over him.

  She finished the wine and walked over to them deliberately, pasting a smile on her face. “Darling, I was feeling lonely,” she chirped, sliding her hand through his arm and ignoring the stiffening of his body. The woman looked at her insolently and did not move. “Sheryl,” she said coolly.

  “My dear, Selene, I was just telling Blake that I hardly recognized you. Have you put on some weight?”

  Selene wanted to punch her right in the face. How dared her! “No,” she said sweetly. “But I understand that you ex-husband was caught with his pants down bent over his secretary. With you for a wife I understand why.”

  They stared at each other furiously until Blake intervened. “Now ladies, be nice,” he drawled, thrilled to know that it was all for his benefit.

  “I see some of my friends over in the corner.” She turned and gave Blake a sweet come hither smile. “Remember to call me.”

  “You bastard!” Selene hissed as soon as the woman left. “You were practically screwing her right in front of everyone! Did you make arrangements to meet her later?”

  “Calm down, darling.” He pulled her reluctant body into his arms. “I will be going home with you tonight. Don’t worry.”

  But Selene was going to do what it took to keep him!

  *****

  “Move in with me,” Garth said one late afternoon as she was preparing something for them to eat. He could not stop staring at her. She had started showing now that it was getting nearer to her fifth month and the leggings and cropped top she was wearing highlighted her protruding belly. Her hair was pinned haphazardly on top of her head with several strands escaping and she looked like a mischievous teenager just fooling around in the kitchen.

  She looked up at him for a moment and then continued cutting the tomatoes. “Not until we get married.” She looked around the cheerful kitchen briefly and tried to ignore the fact that she had no idea what to do about the house her parents had left her. It was going to be so hard to leave all the memories behind.

  “We are getting married in three weeks so what’s the difference?”

  “Three weeks difference.” She put away the knife and scooped the vegetables into the bowl. She was preparing fried chicken and cheesy pasta and wondered if her stomach could take it. Doctor Whittingham had told her that her nausea would all but disappear after the first trimester. “I don’t want to leave here just yet.”

  “You don’t have to sell the house.”

  “I am not thinking of selling it.” She plucked off a grape and ate it eyeing him for a moment. “Would you consider giving up your apartment and coming her to live?”

  “No,” he said immediately. “I am the man. I am supposed to provide the place to live.”

  She looked at him with raised brows.

  “You know what I mean,” he said with a shrug.

  “Actually, I don’t. This is an actual house. You live in an apartment with no yard space and as elegant and luxurious as it is I kind of want my child to run around in a yard and get dirty the way I did.”

  “I never played outside.”

  “That was your loss, Garth, and that is exactly what I am running away from. I want our son or daughter to grow up normal and have a happy childhood. I don’t want him or her to think that they have to be forced to take control of a company because their name happens to be Heywood.”

  “The child will be my heir.”

  “Garth Heywood, look at me and listen to me carefully. I love you more than I have ever loved another person in my
life. I am trying to adjust to the fact that you are very different and I am learning to live with it. But I am telling you from now that the day you start treating our child like the heir apparent to take over from you that is when we are going to have serious problems and I want you to get that from now.” She stood before him like a petite hurricane with her dark brown eyes blazing and her hands on her hips.

  “Nothing is wrong-”

  “Did you hear me?” she demanded.

  “I did.” He reached for her and she boxed his hands away. “I am starving and when you touch me we lose sight of everything.”

  “True,” he said solemnly as he reached for her again. With a sigh, Olivia went into his arms. He pulled the blouse over her head and when his mouth touched her stiff sensitive nipple she was lost!

  *****

  “Ice blue I think,” Olivia murmured as the dresses were paraded before her. They were at Romano’s wedding storeroom where there were everything there for the bride’s pleasure. Orange juice had been offered to her and champagne for the rest of the wives who had accompanied her to choose her wedding dress. She had two weeks to her wedding and the arrangements were all in place. They were getting married at the chapel where his parents had gotten married and the reception was being held at the Royal Palm Hotel. The woman rushed to get several for her to look at and Monique Romano took out one with a blue so pale that it looked almost white. Lovely pearls glittered at the bodice and around the high waist and the skirt billowed down softly to her knees. The back had a crisscrossed straps with pearls decorating them and beautiful lace took the place of the material until it got to the small of her back. The high skirt was designed to downplay her pregnancy and the material swirled around her softly. “It has a regency look to it and with your hair braided and dotted with pearls you are good to go,” Monique told her softly. The woman had risen up from being a high school teacher to the best stylist in the country. She was in high demands and her job kept her traveling all over the world except when she was pregnant and spending time with her family. Her handsome husband Lorenzo went with her refusing to have her traveling alone and they made a very good team.