Читать книгу New Arrivals: His Inherited Family: Billionaire Baby Dilemma / His Ring, Her Baby / Cowgirl Makes Three - Barbara Dunlop - Страница 13

Lucas tracked Steve down to his executive office on the fifteenth floor of the Pacific Robotics building. It was nearly noon, and sunshine streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the ultramodern, European-styled office.

The desk was stark white, plastic with rounded edges, no drawers and a Plexiglas top that reminded Lucas of a kid’s toy. The chair matched, molded plastic with white vinyl cushions. While the white shelf unit behind Steve held numerous impressionist glass objects for which he’d likely paid a fortune.

His computer was a bright white flat screen with a sleek matching keyboard, there wasn’t a single piece of paper in the office. The only splash of color was a metallic abstract painting, in aqua and silver on the side wall. Lucas was forced to squint against the glare.

“Lucas,” Steve greeted with a smug, half smile as he swiveled his chair back and forth a few degrees. His suit was steel-gray, his dark hair stark against the white background.

The door firmly shut behind him, Lucas advanced on the desk. He folded his arms over his chest. “Just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“At the moment, I’m composing a memo.”

“You think you can intimidate Devin?”

Steve stopped swiveling and sat up straight. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t think I’ll protect her?”

Steve scoffed out a cold laugh. “I think you’ll protect your investment.”

“I can’t believe you’d target a defenseless woman.” “Unlike you?” Steve sneered.

Lucas pointed sharply with his index finger. “I have never—”

“Never what? Never fought Devin Hartley for control of Amelia? Never conspired with Konrad to manipulate Granddad’s will?”

“You know that’s a lie.”

“I know nothing of the sort.”

“You better back the hell off on this one, Steve. I am not letting you anywhere near Devin and Amelia.”

Steve laughed at that. “What are you, saddling up the white charger now? Galloping on over to the moral high ground? You’d have kicked Devin to the curb months ago if you’d been able to get away with it.”

Lucas stilled, because Steve was right. If Lucas had found a way to get sole guardianship of Amelia, he wouldn’t have given Devin another thought. But that was then. This was now. All he could seem to think about was Devin’s welfare. And he was not going to let Steve hurt her.

Steve obviously sensed his advantage, because he came to his feet and his voice got louder. “You want Amelia because she gives you control of the company. So don’t stand there and pretend this has anything to do with Devin.”

Lucas leaned in. “You’d have her disinherited? You’d have Konrad’s only child disinherited for your own selfish ends?”

“Like you wouldn’t if it was my child.”

“I wouldn’t,” Lucas answered honestly. Much as he’d hate Steve having control over Pacific Robotics, he would respect his grandfather’s wishes.

“You lie almost as well as I do,” Steve returned.

“I’m not going to let you do this,” Lucas warned.

“You have absolutely no way to stop me,” said Steve. Then he lifted his chin, a reptilian smile coming over his face. “The high-and-mighty Lucas Demarco, sidelined in his own company. I hope you weren’t too fond of the corner office.”

“You think that’s what I’m fighting for? Status?” Lucas was fighting for the financial health of the company, the security of their employees, the interests of the Washington State high-tech sector and the future of his brother’s baby girl.

“You are staid, complacent and unimaginative. If you had the capacity to even consider enlightened business practices, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

“Depriving a child of her inheritance is neither imaginative nor enlightened. It’s criminal.”

“What’s criminal, Lucas, is having a baby for the sole purpose of financial benefit. You expect any judge to believe Konrad met his soul mate and fell in love forty-eight hours after we read Granddad’s will? Or that normal people plan a five-hundred-guest wedding in less than a month? Or that, in this day and age of birth control, people get pregnant on their wedding night?”

Lucas didn’t particularly want to present the facts that way to a judge. But, yes, he believed all of those things happened with Konrad and Monica. He watched his brother fall apart after she left. He watched Konrad try anything and everything to win her back.

There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that Konrad had loved both Monica and Amelia.

Steve plunked back down in his chair. “She left him, Lucas. She knew she’d been used. Her sister knows the truth. You’re the only one persisting in this fairy tale.”

“I don’t want you anywhere near the mansion,” Lucas intoned. “I don’t want you anywhere near Devin. And I especially don’t want you anywhere near Amelia.”

“I don’t have to go anywhere near them,” Steve returned. “The facts will speak for themselves. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier.” His eyes narrowed. “I’m going to win this, Lucas. I’m going to win this because you have never been able to see the potential in any circumstance. You’re not Konrad. You’ll plod along the safe road, following the rules, keeping everything inside the lines.” He paused, curving the corners of his mouth into a slick smile. “Did I tell you I’m engaged? Wonderful little woman I’ve been seeing for nearly six months. Expect a wedding invitation. We’re planning a big family.”

Lucas swore out loud.

“Yeah,” Steve said, grinning. “It is, isn’t it?”

“It wasn’t exactly the worst mistake in the world,” Lexi offered from where she’d stretched out on her stomach on the blanket they’d spread on the rolling lawn in the backyard of the Demarco estate. They were up the hill from the mansion, close to an oriental garden where one of the young housekeepers named Teresa was helping Amelia feed the koi fish.

Amelia was delighted by the fish. She especially loved standing on the small stone bridge, clinging to the rail and staring down at their flashing colors. Teresa seemed endlessly patient with her, and delighted to be asked to help out. Today Devin was inclined to take advantage of the young woman’s assistance.

“So, it’s the second-worst mistake?” asked Devin, plucking a blade of grass from the lush lawn. She sat cross-legged on the bright blue blanket, gazing past the gardens to Puget Sound and the ships gliding past. If sleeping with Lucas came second, she’d hate to think about what was first.

“Do you think it was part of his grand scheme?” asked Lexi.

“I was the one who was supposed to use sex to learn his secrets.” Devin shook her head now when she thought back to that ridiculous plan.

“You told him secrets?” Lexi’s interest perked up a notch.

“I don’t have any secrets.”

“Does he?”

“I don’t know.” Devin tore the blade of grass lengthwise. “I think he does. He knows perfectly well that Konrad used Monica for his own financial ends. I’m sure Lucas was part of the plot.”

Devin hadn’t yet decided what to do about Lucas’s request that she postpone the hearing. It could be another scam. Then again, she could easily believe that Steve was up to no good.

“I thought you were only going to dress up and give him a few ‘come hither’ looks?” Lexi reminded her.

Devin felt her face heat with embarrassment. Could she have done a worse job with it? “I was in jogging shorts. Well, okay, my underwear.”

Lexi sat up, eyes alight. “You were vamping him in your underwear? And you wonder why things went off the rails?”

“I was swimming in my underwear. And we were arguing. I wasn’t vamping. That’s why I didn’t expect…”

“Okay, back to the underwear part in just a second. What I don’t understand is why you said yes.”

Excellent question. Devin wished there was a noble answer. She rolled, aimed and tossed the blade of grass onto the lawn, merely postponing the inevitable admission. “He’s hot. And he’s a great kisser.”

Amelia squealed in delight in the distance, while Lexi just grinned. “So, there was an upside to this.”

Devin gave a sheepish grimace. “If you mean great sex, then yeah. There’s an upside. But there’s a humongous downside too.”

“It doesn’t really change anything,” Lexi pointed out.

“It’s embarrassing.” Devin had to spend the next month with Lucas, and he’d seen her naked.

And she wanted to do it again. And she was terrified that he’d figure that out.

No good could come of a distracting affair with Lucas. She needed to keep her wits about her.

Beside the koi pond, Teresa held on to both of Amelia’s hands while Amelia began walking their way.

“So, what now?” asked Lexi, flicking her hair over her shoulder and readjusting her position on the blanket.

“I still need a plan. I need to prove beyond any doubt that Konrad and Lucas plotted the romance with Monica to get the inheritance.”

“How’re you going to do that?”

“Wait until he’s out of the house, and then snoop around. I’ll hunt for evidence. Talk to witnesses.” Lexi straightened. “Can I help?” “Absolutely.” “When do we start?”

Devin came up on her knees and moved closer to Lexi so she could lower her voice. “Today.” She nodded archly. “I’m going to let Teresa put Amelia down for her nap. Lucas is going into the office for the afternoon. And I need you to distract Byron.”

Lexi frowned. “I really don’t like that man.”

“I didn’t ask you to like him.”

“He’s smug. That ‘y’all’ and ‘ma’am’, and the slow talkin’ drawl. It’s an act. He’s devious.”

“All the more reason to keep him distracted for me.” Devin wasn’t sure she’d call Byron devious. But she’d definitely bet he was more intelligent than he let on. And he seemed intensely loyal to Lucas.

He’d talked yesterday about heading home to Texas. But he was still here. And Devin couldn’t afford to wait.

Lexi squared her shoulders. “Where is he now?”

Devin tilted her head. “Over at the pool. Put on your turquoise bathing suit and go out on the floatie again. He seemed to like that.”

“Are you my pimp? “

“Do it for Amelia,” Devin cajoled.

Lexi drew a breath. “Okay. Fine. For the sake of our baby princess, I’ll let the man ogle me for a while.” She rose to her knees. “I just hope that ostentatious belt buckle of his doesn’t catch the sunlight and blind me forever.”

“Drama queen,” breathed Devin.

“Hey, you’re not the one who’ll be using sex to…” Lexi paused. “Wait a minute—” “Shut up,” said Devin.

Lexi laughed at Devin’s outrage. Then she sobered. “Okay.”

She smoothed back her hair. “I’ll vamp the tall cowboy. You snoop around inside the house. Someday, this is going to make a funny story for Amelia.”

With Amelia safely down for her nap, and Lexi running interference with Byron down at the pool, and Lucas gone to the office, Devin crept into Konrad’s silent bedroom.

It was an opulent suite on the north wing of the second floor, down the hall from Lucas. Elaborate gold and cream ceilings blended into crown molding that outlined the L-shaped room. A huge, four-poster bed was set into the alcove. A sitting area was formed by four brown leather, overstuffed armchairs that surrounded a marble fireplace and two antique, glass-topped tables. Three bay windows brought sunshine in from the ocean side, while a boxed window above the king-size bed overlooked the pool.

The thick carpet was soft under her canvas runners, and she found her gaze drawn to three massive seascapes hanging on the pale yellow walls. The scenes were calm and soothing, with whispery grasses and delicate wildflowers blooming along the shores. It wasn’t what she would have expected of Konrad.

Taking a bracing breath, and telling herself she had no choice but to snoop, she started with a small desk in one corner, carefully and quietly pulling open the three drawers. The contents were impersonal—a pad of paper, a few gold pens, a phone book and a calculator.

Next, she moved to one of the dressers, wiping her damp palms across her blue jeans before flipping up the iron handles and pulling open the top drawer. It was Konrad’s underwear. Though she herself kept many precious bits and pieces in her underwear drawer, she wasn’t going there. There might be a signed confession hidden beneath his boxers, but she wasn’t willing to dig it out.

The remaining dresser drawers mostly held T-shirts, sweatpants and pajamas. She closed them up and moved to the closet.

There she was shocked to find some of Monica’s clothes still hanging in neat rows and folded on banks of shelves. At least Devin assumed they were Monica’s clothes. They were about the right size, and it was definitely Monica’s wedding dress hanging in the far corner, covered in plastic film.

For a moment, Devin’s throat closed up with loneliness. She took a few steps closer and reached out to touch the dress.

It had been such a blissful wedding, full of excitement and promise. It was the most elegant event Devin had ever attended and, at the time, she’d fully expected Monica to live happily ever after.

Monica had been radiant, and Devin herself had felt incredibly beautiful that night. She’d worn a floor-length, violet silk dress, with a spray of flowers in her hair, and a delicate diamond pendant that Monica had given her as a bridesmaid gift. She’d danced with other guests until her feet were blistered, toasted the bride with expensive champagne, nibbled on crab puffs and ate two pieces of cake.

Later, when Monica walked out on Konrad, they’d trashed her bridesmaid dress and thrown out the pictures. But Devin hadn’t had the heart to get rid of the pendant.

Her sister’s veil hung next to the white silk dress. The shoes on a bottom shelf. And above the shoes.

Devin crouched down. She stared intently before running her fingertips over the smooth white cover of their wedding photo album.

It had been a year since she’d seen any of the wedding pictures. After only a moment’s hesitation, she slipped the album from the shelf and sat fully down on the thick carpet. With a deep breath, she opened the cover.

Monica was on the first page, standing alone in her wedding dress, silhouetted against the arched oak door of the stone church building. The dress was a masterpiece, several thousand seed pearls sewn into a strapless bodice with a sweetheart neckline and a full skirt, all accented with antique lace. They’d ordered it from a famous designer in Italy. Monica had balked at the price, but Konrad had insisted.

A tear slipped from Devin’s eye as she turned the page. There, she saw Konrad, looking sharp in his tux. She struggled to work up some anger toward him, but all she could remember was how she and Monica laughed over a groom who owned not one, but half a dozen tuxedos. What kind of a man required half a dozen tuxes?

The next page showed Monica, Devin and the other bridesmaids—two of Monica’s college roommates. They were laughing as they displayed their bouquets of irises and white roses. The photo had been taken moments before they moved from the anteroom to the foyer of the church. On the way down the narrow hallway, Monica had nearly caused a disaster, tripping on the hem of her elaborate dress and stumbling into Devin.

Fortunately, Devin caught Monica, the bouquets survived and the wedding guests hadn’t heard their burst of laughter.

Devin swiped another tear from her cheek.

Next, she came to a picture of the wedding cake. It was a decadently rich, lemon-butter pound cake, six round tiers with white Belgian chocolate ganache. A pale gold luster adorned the icing, while a colorful waterfall of fresh flowers swirled diagonally down from a top bouquet. Devin got hungry just looking at it.

She flipped another page and came to Lucas.

“What are you doing in here?” his voice demanded.

Devin nearly dropped the album in shock. Her gaze flew to the closet entrance to see him looming over her, dressed in a business suit instead of a tux, frowning and furious instead of smiling for the camera.

“Don’t do that,” she cried. “You scared me half to death.”

“What are you doing in here?” he repeated, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Guilt and alarm invaded her system. “I… uh…” She swallowed over a sandpaper throat. What could she say? How could she possibly explain the fact that she was sitting on the floor of Konrad’s closet?

“I got lost,” she told him in a small voice, sticking to the only story she’d crafted. Then she glanced at the album, holding it up as if it proved something. “I happened to spot this, and then. well, I started looking, and remembering.” She made a show of swiping her cheek with the back of her hand, hoping for the sympathy vote she supposed, since her excuse was transparently lame.

Lucas took a couple of steps into the closet. “You got lost?” he challenged, the skepticism all but dripping from his tone.

“I, uh, took a wrong turn.” She couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Out there in the hall. This is a really big house.”

She told herself to shut up.

His answering silence was unnerving.

After a long moment, he crouched down beside her. He cocked his head to peer at the picture on the open page.

“You looked very handsome at the wedding,” she offered, pointing to his image. Truth was, he’d looked amazing that night and every other time she’d seen him, including now.

She’d tried, but she hadn’t come close to banishing her memories of last night in the pool house. He’d looked amazing then, too.

“Are you trying to distract me?” he asked. “Of course not,” she lied.

He reached out and tucked her hair behind one ear, letting his hand rest there. “Then you’re saying you find me attractive?”

“Yeess,” she offered slowly, beginning to worry where he thought this might be leading.

He ran the pad of his thumb from her cheekbone to the shell of her ear, and along her jawbone.

Her pulse jumped at the intimacy of the touch. But she forced herself to keep still, torn between trepidation and arousal, with only one tiny, sane part of her brain reminding her she had to put a stop to this.

She reached up and grasped his wrist, attempting to tug his hand away.

She failed.

A lazy smile grew on his face, and his breath puffed sweetly against her cheek, even as his thumb meandered to the curve of her neck. “I can’t help wondering.” He paused. “Just how far you’d be willing to go to keep me distracted.”

She swallowed again, her heart thudding deep in her tightening chest. “Why.” Her voice was a rasp. “Why would I need to keep you distracted? “

He leaned closer. “Because you’re up to no good.”

She bristled. “I told you. I got lost.” But the lie sounded even worse this time around.

“And you accidentally wandered into Konrad’s closet?”

“That’s right.” It could have happened.

“You’re damn lucky I have a forgiving nature.”

“Ha,” she managed to scoff.

He sat down on the carpet beside her and lifted the album from her hands. “I’ve already forgiven you.” “I didn’t do anything.”

“Then why is your neck going all red and splotchy?”

Devin’s hand automatically rose to cover it up, and Lucas grinned at the telltale action.

Then he shook his head. “I just hope I never need you to lie for me.”

“That seems unlikely,” she sniffed.

Instead of pressing further, he turned a page of the album. “You were very beautiful,” he told her.

Devin turned her attention to a photo of her and Monica. “We threw out our pictures,” she admitted.

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “We chucked my bridesmaid dress, too.”

“She must have been pretty mad.” He turned to a page that showed the bride and groom cutting the cake. Their smiles seemed so sincere.

“Can you blame her?” Devin asked.

“She made a terrible mistake.”

“By marrying Konrad.”

Lucas butted Devin with his shoulder. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”

Devin gave a shrug. “You might have decided to finally be honest.”

He shook his head in disbelief, folding the album shut and replacing it on the shelf.

Then, to her surprise, his hand slipped around to the back of her neck. His palm was warm, his gaze intent, and his voice sent a predictable quiver through the pit of her stomach. “You have got to be the most exasperating woman on the planet.”

She struggled to hold on to her equilibrium, keeping her tone tart. “What? The women you know don’t usually talk back?”

His lips relaxed to a half smile, and he leaned meaningfully toward her. “At this point, they usually stop talking altogether.”

“Is that how you like it?”

“It makes the kissing easier.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He grinned. “Why not?”

“Because you promised.”

“I didn’t promise a thing.”

She ordered herself to stay strong. “Have a little respect.” “For what?”

“For this—” she gestured around them, hushing her voice in reverence “—for where we are.” “We’re in my brother’s closet.” “Exactly.”

“You’ve never made love in a closet?” He was moving closer.

Of course she hadn’t. She put her palm flat against his chest to hold him off. “Have you?” “Not that I recall.”

“You’re joking, right?” How could a person not recall something like that?

“It’s a pretty roomy closet,” he pointed out, ignoring her question and making a show of testing the softness of the carpet.

“The truce is over,” she reminded him, eyeing the closet door. She was sure she could make an escape. And she was positive it was the right thing to do.

“I’m willing to renegotiate,” he told her.

“Lucas, be serious.”

“What makes you think I’m joking?”

“I’m saying no.”

He clamped his jaw. But he let his hand fall away. And he rose to his feet, holding out a hand. “Then, let’s go.”

She was glad he’d back off. She really was.

She stuck her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet. He kept hold of it, tugging her out of the closet and across Konrad’s bedroom, through the open door to the hallway.

“Just so you know,” he warned her as he pulled it shut behind them, “this room will have a lock on it from now on.”