Читать книгу Millionaire's Wedding Revenge / Stranded with the Tempting Stranger - Brenda Jackson - Страница 11

Four

He scanned the house numbers, and when he found the modest little home in Coral Gables, he pulled up at the curb and parked his Aston Martin convertible.

As Stephen strode up the well-kept front lawn, he scanned the home’s facade. It was hard to tell if anyone was home.

The house was painted white, with light blue shutters and trim providing vivid contrast. Flower boxes spilled over from the front windows, and some small bushes dotted the lawn before them.

He pocketed his sunglasses before finding and ringing the doorbell.

It was a late Saturday afternoon, and the temperature hovered modestly in the mideighties. Megan could be anywhere, he thought. She could be out running errands or seeing friends. If she wasn’t home, his plan was to try another time.

He rang the doorbell again.

He knew just calling Megan up and asking for a date wouldn’t work. She’d already turned down his invitation to dinner.

So, he’d decided to show up on her doorstep unannounced. He figured he could offer his help for what remained to be done moving in, and in the process, he might even persuade her about dinner.

She was bound to be more relaxed outside of work.

On top of it all, he was more than a little curious about what Megan was hiding. At the Garrison Grand the other day, when she’d abruptly cut herself off, the alarmed look that had crossed her face had been telling.

Showing up at her house would give him a good opportunity to discover any secrets.

With that thought, he rang a third time.

After waiting for a few moments, and again receiving no response, he resigned himself to trying again another time.

He turned to leave when a distant laugh suddenly stopped him.

The laugh came again, and this time he thought it was coming from the rear of the house.

Changing direction, he cut across the lawn, then turned the corner and walked along the concrete path that ran along the side of the house.

As he neared the backyard, he could tell from the sound of movement that there were definitely people outside.

“Mommy, the green.”

“Okay, Jade. Just a minute, honey.”

He recognized the second voice as Megan’s.

Even as his mind roared to life trying to make sense of the conversation—Megan, a mother—he turned the corner into the backyard.

His eyes rapidly took in Megan, her back to him, sitting at a plastic picnic table opposite a little girl. They were finger-painting and wearing matching smocks.

The little girl looked up suddenly and stared at him.

He stared back—and felt the breath leave him.

The girl had dark brown hair, pulled back in a ponytail, and her large brown eyes stared at him innocently.

But the characteristic he zeroed in on was her cleft chin.

He was all too familiar with the trait. He viewed it every morning when he shaved, and he saw it in the faces of his siblings.

All the Garrisons had cleft chins.

The girl looked to be around three, which would make her the right age….

His mind froze.

The little girl smiled and pointed. “Mommy, there’s a man here.”

He watched as Megan looked over her shoulder.

When she saw him, her eyes widened and her lips parted. Color drained from her face.

She owed him some answers big time, Stephen thought grimly.

He could read the truth in Megan’s reaction, could see it in his daughter’s face. His daughter.

“Hello, Megan.” Given his fury, he was surprised by how even his voice was.

Not in front of Jade, her eyes seemed to beg him as he stepped forward.

“And who is this pretty girl?” he asked, looking over at Jade.

The little girl giggled. “I’m Jade.”

A door opened and slammed. “Sorry, I’m late—”

Stephen turned to see a woman—a cute blonde who looked to be in her early twenties—stopped in front of Megan’s back door.

Megan rose. “That’s okay, Tiffany. I was just entertaining Jade with some finger-painting.”

Stephen noticed Tiffany gazing at him as if she recognized him.

More likely than not, she did. If she and her friends partied at the Garrison Grand or one of the other hot spots among the Garrison properties, chances were good she would have seen him. Or maybe she recognized him from the newspapers.

“My name is Jade, and I like green!”

Despite the charged atmosphere, Stephen couldn’t help smiling at the little girl’s outburst. The tyke had personality.

Megan looked down at her daughter. “Time to clean up, sweetie.”

“But, Mommy, we’re not done!”

“Why don’t I finish painting with Jade?” Tiffany offered, stepping forward, though her eyes remained on him.

Doubtlessly, Stephen thought, she was wondering what he was doing standing in Megan’s yard.

“Yes, Megan,” he drawled, “why don’t you let Tiffany take over, since you and I need to talk.”

His tone said she wasn’t getting rid of him. He wanted answers now.

Their eyes met and clashed until Megan broke contact.

“All right,” she said finally, then raised her arms to untie the smock from behind her neck.

Because Tiffany continued to look at him curiously, he said smoothly, “Aren’t you going to introduce us, Megan?” Then without waiting for a response, he held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Stephen Garrison.”

Jade’s father. Megan’s former lover. The guy who just found out he has a child.

“I thought I recognized you!” Tiffany exclaimed. “You’re the owner of the Garrison Grand, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” he acknowledged, then shook Tiffany’s hand.

He was used to women stating the obvious when meeting him for the first time.

He knew his effect on the opposite sex. He was tall, well-built and rich. Three qualities women loved. When they weren’t slipping him their phone numbers or hotel keys, they were finagling an introduction from friends.

His image blended with that of the Garrison Grand: life in the fast lane.

“Get around, don’t you?” Megan remarked drily.

He arched a brow as he stepped toward where she stood, waiting for him. “I’m locally known, if that’s what you mean.”

He could tell Tiffany was following their exchange avidly, which made it all the more imperative that he and Megan find a place where they could speak privately.

“Listen to what Tiffany says, sweetheart,” Megan said to her daughter before turning to walk toward the back door.

He followed, watching Megan’s hips swing in tailored shorts and a light blue T-shirt, her feet in flip-flops.

She could have been any suburban mother trying to entertain her kid on a hot weekend afternoon.

Except now he knew she was the mother of his kid.

He trailed her through the house to a cozy living room furnished with tropical-print furniture and strewn with toys.

She stopped and turned to face him.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me I had a daughter?” he began without preamble. “And don’t bother denying it. She’s got the Garrison features, right down to the cleft chin!”

She folded her arms in front of her, almost hugging herself. “I thought it was best.”

“You…thought…it…was…best?” Fury made him enunciate every word. “Best for whom? You? Because I can already tell you, honey, it sure as hell wasn’t best for me.” He stabbed his finger in the direction of the yard. “And it’s questionable whether it was best for that little girl out there to be raised by you alone and denied all the advantages I could have provided for her.”

He’d just given voice to her own niggling doubts over the years, Megan thought.

There were times when she’d thought about contacting Stephen. Times when she’d wondered whether she was doing the right thing by not telling him of Jade’s existence.

And then she’d thought about his betrayal and his playboy lifestyle, and realized all over again he wasn’t father material. There was no way he’d be happy to learn he’d accidentally fathered a child.

Now, though, he’d found out about Jade in the worst possible way.

Still, she rebelled at his judgment of her.

“Why?” he asked.

“It was clear to me our affair was coming to an end.”

“Try again,” he snapped. “You’ve used that line before. It may have sufficed as a reason for breaking up, but it doesn’t explain why you kept my daughter from me.”

“What would you have done if I’d told you?” she flung back at him. “Would you have accused me of deliberately getting pregnant? Of trying to trap you?”

He stared at her hard. “My reaction is beside the point. I had a right to know.”

“You gave up that right when you proved yourself untrustworthy.”

“Untrustworthy? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you were seeing other women. Having sex with other women.”

He didn’t move a muscle.

Just let him deny it, she thought angrily.

“You’re crazy,” he said finally.

“I saw her,” she responded, dropping her arms. “I saw her leaving your yacht the night I was coming—”

She cut herself off.

“The night you were coming to tell me you were pregnant?” he finished for her, guessing.

“She said you were the best she’d ever had.”

“A nice compliment if it had been true,” he retorted, “but I wasn’t sleeping with anyone else.”

She threw up her hands. “What was I supposed to think? She was straightening her dress while she spoke to me! She was leaving your yacht, it was late, and you had a reputation as a player.”

A reputation that she’d been well aware of. She’d only gone out with him after he’d pursued her persistently while she’d worked on the renovation of Garrison headquarters. Even then, it had been against her better judgment. Of course, once she’d found out about his cheating, she’d castigated herself for her naiveté.

“I can hardly remember who you’re talking about! Women have thrown themselves at me—”

“And that’s the problem,” she retorted. Definitely not Daddy material. Not then, and not now. “You’re the Garrison Grand’s owner. You operate in a sophisticated world.”

A heartless world.

A muscle worked in his jaw. “Even if I’d slept with someone else, it doesn’t justify your hiding Jade.”

“Oh, yes, it does,” she responded. “It meant as far as you were concerned, we weren’t serious. It confirmed you were still a player. I knew you wouldn’t be thrilled to discover I was pregnant.”

If she couldn’t trust him with her heart, how could she trust him with her baby?

At least, that’s what she’d told herself whenever she’d had doubts about keeping Jade’s existence a secret.

“How can you be so damn sure of my reaction when I’m not even sure what the hell my reaction would have been?” he tossed back, then raked his hand through his hair. “How could you have gotten pregnant? We used protection.”

She’d wondered the same thing for a time. Now, she shrugged her shoulders. “I took some antibiotics for a sinus infection. They must have interfered with the pill.”

He just continued to look at her fixedly.

She steadied herself. “The question is, where do we go from here?”

She dreaded raising the issue, but it was a question that had to be asked.

“I’ll tell you where we’re not going, and that’s back to you excluding me from Jade’s life.”

His words chilled her. The thought of Jade somehow, someday, being taken away from her was her biggest fear.

“What do you mean?” she breathed.

“I mean,” he said, his expression flinty, “you’re going to marry me and publicly acknowledge I’m Jade’s father.”

“What? You can’t be serious!” Even as her heart thudded, she tried to wrap her mind around the idea and couldn’t.

“But I am, sweetheart,” he responded implacably.

“And if I say no?”

His face closed, hardening, and she got a glimpse of Stephen, the ruthless businessman. “Then I’ll take you to court to establish my parental rights. I’ll use every means at my disposal to give you the legal battle of your life and to get access to my daughter.”

She knew those means were formidable. Stephen had wealth, power and political influence, not to mention the Garrison empire to back him up.

Still, she managed to find her voice, and say evenly, “I’d probably win a custody battle. The law is on my side as Jade’s mother and the one who’s raised her.”

“You couldn’t afford a fight, and even if you could, would you want to risk it?” he shot back.

No, she acknowledged, if only to herself. She knew Stephen had the money to hire the best lawyers in town, which would make for a protracted and messy battle. He could very well win generous visitation rights, at the least.

“Think about it,” he said, seeming to read her mind. “One way or another, I’m in your life.”

“I could fight you.” She wasn’t without some means herself. But she knew she was out of her league with Stephen.

And that was the heart of the matter. He’d always been out of her league, in every way.

“Yeah,” he acknowledged too quietly, “but think about your career. You just got a new start in Miami. You don’t have the time for a legal battle, and your professional reputation will take a hit.”

She hated that he was right. Her professional reputation would suffer. Interior design was such a fickle business. Who would want to hire a woman whose personal life was a disaster? Who might be trailed by reporters to their doorstep?

Stephen had influence in this town. He was a trendsetter and more. She knew there would be people who’d want to keep on his good side—and that would include not doing business with the former lover with whom Stephen was involved in a messy child-custody fight.

“Why are you doing this me?” she whispered, distraught.

“Isn’t that my line?” he countered. “Why did you do this to me?”

She opened and closed her mouth.

“No matter what,” he said flatly, “we’re joined at the hip.”

“Oops, sorry to intrude!”

Megan turned and saw Tiffany standing in the doorway from the hallway to the living room. She had no idea how long the sitter had been there.

“I didn’t realize you were still here, Megan,” Tiffany said, “but I thought I’d check because you usually tell me when you’re leaving.” Then glancing from Stephen back to her, she added, “Didn’t you say your dinner was at seven?”

Megan closed her eyes. She’d almost forgotten about her business dinner!

Opening her eyes again, she looked at her watch. It was nearing six. She’d have to hurry.

Tiffany looked from her to Stephen, and evidently judging that she’d walked in on a heated conversation, she took a step back. “I left Jade in the kitchen. Call me if you need anything.”

When the sitter had retreated, Megan looked back at Stephen. “I have a business dinner in a little over an hour to court a potential new client. That’s why Tiffany came over.”

She’d made an exception to her rule not to let business intrude on her weekends with Jade because Conrad had asked her for a favor. She was supposed to meet Conrad and the potential client at a downtown Miami restaurant—and she wasn’t even dressed yet.

Stephen looked at her coldly. “I’m giving you until Monday to make up your mind. And I’m only giving you that amount of time because I know you’re scheduled to come by the Garrison Grand and we can talk then without having Jade around.” He paused. “You already got four years.”

Megan watched then as Stephen strode to the front door and slammed out of her house.

But not out of her life, she thought with a pang.