Читать книгу One Wild Night: Magnate's Mistress...Accidentally Pregnant! / Hot Boss, Boardroom Mistress / The Good, the Bad and the Wild - Heidi Rice - Страница 11

HOLY HELL. Ally tightened her numb fingers around the cup she held as her heart jumped back into her chest and pounded erratically. She leaned against a mailbox for a moment as she tried to gather herself. Breathe. Be calm.

“This is certainly a surprise.” Pleased her voice didn’t shake too much, Ally punctuated it with a small smile.

Chris didn’t return it. “Seems we’re both having surprising days, then.”

She didn’t know what to make of that statement. In fact, she didn’t know what to make of anything—not why he was here, not what she should say in response. “I thought you were still on Tortola with the Circe. What brings you to Savannah?”

His voice was clipped, succinct, the lazy drawl disappearing. “I brought the Circe home to Charleston. I came to Savannah to find you.”

She’d dreamed once that Chris had come to her, and he’d said almost those exact same words. But the reality version wasn’t at all like the dream. No, in her dream, Chris had smiled as he said the words, causing those adorable crinkles around his blue, blue eyes. Those eyes were cold now, and one eyebrow arched up in a mocking challenge. What kind of challenge, she wasn’t sure.

She nearly blurted out, “Why?” but caught the question in time. From the look on his face, she didn’t think she’d like the answer. Instead she went to her next pressing question. “How’d you find me?”

“You mean since you didn’t leave a number on your brief goodbye note?” he mocked. “Seriously, Ally, in this day and age it’s not all that difficult to find someone when you want to.”

Something nasty lurked behind his words, sending a cold shiver through her insides. Her hand went protectively to her stomach, but she caught herself at the last second.

The instinctive movement didn’t pass unnoticed, though, and she winced as Chris’s eyes narrowed. “My question is, why didn’t you find me?”

There’s no way he could know. Bluff your way out of this and leave gracefully. “I enjoyed our time together—honestly, I did—but it was over and done with. I had no idea you’d leave Tortola. Or that you’d be so close to Savannah.” That was the truth. Why did he have to be from Charleston, for goodness’ sake? Why couldn’t he be from Florida or someplace far, far from here? “It seemed best just to let it go.”

Chris levered himself off the car and took a step toward her, his voice dropping dangerously. “That’s not what I’m talking about, and you damn well know it. It would have taken you approximately five minutes to find me if you’d tried. And you should have tried as soon as you found out.”

He knew. Oh, God, he knew. How? Paniclike flutters in her chest made it hard to breathe. No, there was no way he could know. “When I found out what?”

“Don’t play dumb, Ally. It doesn’t suit you. You’re pregnant. About six weeks if I understand correctly. And six weeks ago you were with me.”

There was the nausea again. She swayed on her feet as it washed over her. Chris grabbed her elbow. “Are you all right?”

She took a deep breath—inhaling the scent of him and letting it coil through her—and blew it out slowly, trying to will the nausea away. Game over, time to just face it. “How did you find out?”

He tilted his head in the direction of the office. “Your business partner—Molly, right?—she told me today when I called.”

She needed to sit down, but there was nothing on the sidewalk to use as a seat. This was too much to process at once. The happy thought of Chris calling her before he knew about the baby was quickly stomped down by the need to wring Molly’s neck. She took deep breaths to calm herself. It didn’t work.

“I take it from your reaction that it is my baby.”

All she could do was nod. The swimming feeling in her head was too much for anything else.

“And you had no intention of telling me?” Each word was clipped and sharp. This wasn’t the Chris who’d taken her sailing and made her laugh. And made her cry out with his touch. This Chris was livid. Cold.

“I just—”

“There’s no ‘just,’ Ally. Yes or no.”

“No! I mean yes. I mean—” Over Chris’s shoulder, she could see that Sarah, the owner of the bookshop across the street, watching her carefully, a worried crease on her forehead. A quick glance around showed Sarah wasn’t the only one paying attention. No one was headed in this direction—yet—but they had an audience. At least her office didn’t have street-front windows, or else Molly would be out here wanting to know what was going on. This public display had to stop.

She lowered her voice. “Look, I can’t talk about this. Not now. And certainly not here.”

The muscle in his jaw twitched. Chris looked around, noted the interest they’d garnered and nodded sharply. “Agreed.”

Relief swept through her. She set the smoothies on the mailbox and rummaged though her bag for a pen and piece of paper. “I’ll call yo—”

“Where do you live?”

Her head jerked up so quickly a neck muscle spasmed. “What?”

“We need to talk. Privately. Your place seems like the obvious choice.”

She’d hoped for a reprieve. A chance to plan strategy. A chance to at least get her heartbeat under control. “But…”

“Right here, right now, or your place. Take your pick.”

How dare he sweep in here and start ordering her about? She didn’t have to “take her pick” about anything. She didn’t need this kind of upset. She should just walk away. But guilt nagged at her. To be fair, he did have cause to be angry.

As she argued with herself, the tension in Chris’s jaw seemed to increase. She wasn’t going to get out of this, so she needed to pull herself together and deal with it as gracefully as possible. Better to get it over with now.

Yeah, keep telling yourself that.

“My apartment is about ten minutes from here. I’ll need to get my stuff and tell Molly I’m leaving for the day. I’ll be a couple of minutes.”

Another nod, this one so small it was barely perceptible. The man was so tense, the cords in his neck were visible.

She managed to open the office door calmly enough and made it inside. Once out of Chris’s eyesight, though, her knees began to wobble again as the magnitude of the situation hit her.

Zombielike, Ally placed the mango smoothie on Molly’s desk before collapsing in the adjacent chair.

Molly brightened as she reached for her drink. “Thanks. Yum.” She took a sip before looking closely at Ally, and the corners of her mouth turned down in concern. “Are you okay? You look pale. Are you going to barf again?”

Possibly. “I’m fine.” The emotional toil of the last ten minutes—not to mention the thought of what was still to come—washed over her and she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

Molly took her answer at face value. “Some guy came in looking for you about twenty minutes ago.”

A hysterical giggle tried to escape. “Oh, he found me.”

“He was all shades of cute. Who is he? Is he single?”

Fatigue—probably not all due to the baby this time—washed over her, and she rested her head in her hands. “Molls, please tell me what possessed you to tell a stranger over the phone that I was pregnant.”

Indignant, Molly nearly choked on her smoothie. “I did no such thing.”

“Really? Chris says he called here today and you told him I was pregnant.”

“Chris? Who’s Chr—Oh.” Molly’s lips puckered. “Someone did call, and when he said Chris, I thought it was the Kriss Brothers. I mentioned why we were fixing up that room. Are you telling me he was…That the guy who came in here…That he’s—” Ally watched as all the pieces fell into place for Molly. “Oh, Ally, I’m so sorry. No wonder you look so pale.”

There was that hysterical laughter again. Ally went to her desk and turned off her computer. “I’m taking the rest of the afternoon off. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Of course. Go home and lie down. We’ll sort this all out tomorrow. I have to say, though—hummina, hummina. No wonder you…”

“Molly…” she warned.

“Okay, okay. What did he say?”

“Let’s just say he’s a bit angry I didn’t find him when I found out.”

“I told you that you should. He has a right to know.”

“I know.” Overwhelmed again, she swung her chair around and sat. “But being pregnant was complicated enough, I didn’t need anything else. I thought he lived on his boat in the Caribbean, for goodness’ sake. How was I to know he really lived in Charleston and wasn’t just ‘free spirit sailor boy’? Like I needed another…”

“Another Gerry?”

“Exactly. I have enough folks—not to mention the baby—relying on me as it is. I just got one unemployed pretty boy off my hands, I didn’t want to get another one to support. For all I knew, Chris Wells was just another Gerry waiting to happen.”

“Wait a minute.” Molly’s eyes widened. “Chris Wells? And he’s from Charleston? He’s the Chris Wells?”

“Maybe. Why? Who’s the Chris Wells?”

“I thought he looked familiar. Good Lord…Ally, I know you didn’t want to contact him, but are you really telling me you didn’t at least look the man up on Google out of curiosity?” Molly was already at her computer, fingers flying across the keyboard.

“I didn’t want to know. It was just easier if I didn’t. Look, he’s waiting for me, and he’s not in the most patient of moods right now.”

“He can wait one more minute. Come here.” Molly swiveled her computer screen around as Ally sat in the chair across from her. “You need to see this.”

Chris on a sailboat, grinning at the camera. Her heart did a quick double beat as that was the Chris she remembered—not the very angry man waiting for her outside. “And?”

Molly sighed deeply. “Listen carefully. Ever heard of the OWD Shipyard outside Charleston? The W stands for Wells. OWD is the primary sponsor of Wells Racing, and the owner’s grandson, Chris, captains their boats. Team Wells has won every major race in the last five years—including the America’s Cup. They’re considered unbeatable. My God, Ally, you certainly know how to pick them. Chris Wells is the Tiger Woods of sailing.”

Slowly, Molly’s words started to sink in, and the information on the screen in front of her corroborated her story. “How do you know this?”

Molly waved a hand dismissively. “Back when I was dating Ray, he was really into ships and racing. It was all he talked about.”

“Yachts.” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Chris was a celebrity. And the heir to the OWD Shipyard to boot.

Molly looked at her blankly.

“Those are yachts, not ships.” He’d lied to her. Said he raced some and occasionally won. Yeah, right. He was the freakin’ god of the sailing world and he’d led her to believe…Well, he hadn’t really led her anywhere, but he certainly hadn’t been totally honest, either. Chris wasn’t the only one angry now.

Not caring much anymore that Chris was waiting for her, she continued to click through the links, and each Web page brought a new emotion. She welcomed them. By the time she heard the chimes over the door, announcing that he’d gotten impatient and had come to get her, she no longer felt quite so shaky or defensive.

“Are you ready yet, Ally?” Anger still radiated from him, but she no longer cared how mad he was.

Molly, bless her heart, tried to defuse the situation. Extending her hand to Chris, she introduced herself. “We didn’t meet properly earlier. I’m Molly, Ally’s business partner.”

Chris nodded, but his eyes never left Ally. He seemed to be trying to stare her into the ground, but she felt steady and refused to give him the satisfaction of cowering this time.

Grabbing her things, she stood. Time to get this over with. “Yes, I am. You drive. I’ll see you tomorrow, Molls.”

Chris watched as Ally led the way to his car and climbed in without waiting for him to assist. Something had changed in the last few minutes, and he now felt anger radiating from her.

Other than the terse directions she provided, she sat in silence as they drove. What did she have to be so irritated about? He was the wronged party here. When he’d seen her come around the corner, his body had leaped to life, his blood heating and his hands itching to touch her again. But the look on her face when she’d recognized him had killed that feeling as it answered almost every question he’d asked himself on the drive down from Charleston. She was pregnant. The baby was his. And she hadn’t planned on ever telling him.

When he’d realized it was all true, the anger had boiled over and he’d blasted her with it. He hadn’t handled the situation as well as he’d planned, and now guilt nibbled at the edge of his ire.

The only important answer he didn’t have yet was why, but he planned to rectify that soon enough. With Ally practically vibrating with hostility as she sat next to him, though, he doubted he’d get a satisfactory answer at the moment.

In an attempt to both appease his guilt and ease the tension between them, he backtracked to less volatile territory—at least while they were in a small, enclosed space. “How are you feeling?”

Ally’s eyebrows went up and she seemed poised to attack. Instead she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The mornings are pretty rough, and I’m tired a lot.”

“And that’s normal?”

She nodded. “Unfortunately.” Her lips twitched in amusement, and, for a brief moment, he flashed back to Tortola, back to when her inability to hide her reactions had charmed him. But the moment passed quickly, and her amusement faded as rapidly as it had come. “Turn left. That’s me on the corner.”

The two-story Victorian sat gracefully among its historic neighbors, beautiful and well cared for despite its age. He’d been so occupied on the short drive, he hadn’t noticed she was directing him to the heart of Savannah’s historic district. “This is your place?”

Ally didn’t break stride as she climbed the steps to the spacious verandah and slid her key into the lock. “The first floor is. I may not be the heir to a shipyard or have zillion-dollar endorsement agreements, but I do all right.”

So she did know who he was. She may not have known when they met, but at some point she’d done her homework. Which meant she could have contacted him if she’d wanted to. His ire flared up again.

Ally’s sandals slapped against hardwood floors, and the sound echoed off the high ceilings as she moved around the room before settling on an overstuffed red sofa. The apartment suited her—or at least the little he knew about her—old-fashioned around the edges but still modern. The absurdity of the situation hit him at that moment. A woman he barely knew was carrying his child.

“You wanted to talk. Let’s talk.”

The challenge was there; he no longer had the element of surprise on his side, and Ally must feel as though she had the home court advantage now. “How long have you known?”

“That I was pregnant? About three weeks.”

“And in all that time, it never occurred to you that you should tell me?” Agitated, he paced in front of the sofa she sat on, hoping the extra expense of energy would keep him from lashing out again as his temper built.

“To what end? As far as I knew, you lived on a boat somewhere in the Caribbean and hooked up with a different girl every night of the week.”

“And you assumed the swabbie wasn’t worth telling? He was good enough to sleep with on vacation, but not good enough to help you raise a child?”

“Be reasonable, Chris. It’s not a matter of ‘good enough.’ I was just trying to be rational about this.”

“When you found out differently, you didn’t call me because…”

“I only found out about the great Chris Wells twenty minutes ago, so it didn’t affect my assessment of the situation.”

“You expect me to believe that when you found out you were pregnant, you never once tried to find out more about me?”

For the first time in this ridiculous conversation, Ally’s temper seemed to flare. “To be brutally honest, I had enough on my plate to figure out. I wasn’t all that worried about you.”

“Oh, no. I can’t see why the father of the baby would have any impact whatsoever on your plans.”

As fast as it had come, the heat fled from her voice and her tone became conciliatory. “Don’t take it personally. I loved every minute we spent together, but it was just a summer fling. It was over, as far as everything was concerned.”

He gestured at her stomach. “I beg to differ.”

Ally sighed and rubbed her face. “Look. My hormones are a mess right now, I cry at the drop of a hat, I’m so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open, and I haven’t been able to eat all day. I can’t deal with this level of hostility, and I don’t see much sense in continuing to shout at each other. Let’s just cut to the chase, okay?”

Personally, he felt there was a lot of ground still to cover, but only a true jerk would continue to upset a pregnant woman. It wasn’t good for the baby.

His baby.

While anger had been driving him since Molly unwittingly dropped the news, the magnitude of the situation finally slammed into him. He was going to be a father. Hard on the heels of that realization was the even more shocking understanding that he wanted this baby.

Now he needed to sit down. He chose a chair across from Ally and nodded for her to continue.

Ally took a deep breath before she spoke. “I didn’t try to find you because I didn’t think it would matter. You didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who was looking to be tied down, so telling you about the baby—even if I’d been able to locate you—didn’t seem like a winning situation.” He started to interrupt, but she hurried ahead. “Obviously, Iwas mistaken with that assumption, and for that I apologize. I didn’t set out to get pregnant, but I know I want her. Or him. You don’t have to worry, though. I have a good job, plenty of friends and family, and I can handle this. I don’t expect anything from you.”

Wringing Ally’s neck sounded very tempting at the moment. “What if I expect something? This is my child, too, remember.”

Genuine shock at his statement sent Ally’s eyebrows upward. Had she never once considered that possibility while she was “handling” things?

“Well, um, I’m sure we can work something out. Visitation arrangements or…”

“That’s not good enough.”

“Then what do you want?” There was a beat of silence before Ally laughed. “It’s not like we can get married or anything.”

Actually, that was a possibility he hadn’t considered yet. He hadn’t had three weeks to make decisions. Hell, he’d barely had three hours. “Why not?”

“Be serious.”

“Maybe I am.”

“I’m not looking to get married at the moment.” A shadow crossed her face but disappeared a second later.

“Neither was I, now that you mention it, but the circumstances have changed.”

That seemed to spark something, and her calm facade dropped. She stood and paced, and her hands moved agitatedly as she talked. “But the century hasn’t. We don’t have to get married because I’m pregnant. There are other—”

“I’m not going to be delegated to the occasional weekend.” He’d had enough of that with his own parents in the early days after their divorce. Until his mother had decided not to bother anymore, at least.

“Then what do you want?”

Before he even realized what he was doing, he was on his feet and his hands were gripping her arms. “To be a part of my child’s life. To be his father!”

Ally shook off his grip. “I’m offering you that. We’ll just have to figure something out that works for both of us. Charleston is only a couple of hours away…”

As unbelievable as it sounded, Ally seemed to think he was really going to settle for whatever little plan she had turning in her head. Not likely. “Damn it, Ally—”

She spun on him in a fury. “Don’t even look at me like that. How dare you come storming down here and start making demands? This is my baby, and I’ll be the one making the decisions.”

He moved toward her, and she took a step backward. “Your baby? Hello, you didn’t get pregnant by yourself. That baby is just as much mine as it is yours.”

She lifted her chin and tossed down the gauntlet. “Maybe not. Maybe I lied and it’s not yours after all.”

So much for cutting to the chase and discussing this like adults. “Don’t try me, Ally. You won’t like the results.”

Brown eyes narrowed and a flush rose on her chest. “Is that some kind of threat?”

“I don’t make threats. Just promises.”

The flush continued to rise up her neck, and Ally’s lips compressed into a thin line. “Get out,” she snapped. “Now.”

He stood his ground. “This conversation is not over—”

“Oh, yes, it is. Leave.” Stalking across the room, she picked up the phone. “Leave or I’ll call the police.”

“Now who’s making threats?”

“You’re not the only one who doesn’t make empty threats. Get out of my house.”

He’d never had anyone try his temper the way Ally did, and he was moments from saying or doing something he might regret later. Maybe it was best he leave before then. As he opened the door, he warned her one last time. “This doesn’t end here. This is far from over.”

“Oh, no. It’s over. I assure you of that. Goodbye, Chris.” She slammed the door behind him and he heard the lock click into place.

She thought it was that easy? That it was over just because she said so? She might have gotten away with it on Tortola, but the circumstances had changed dramatically.

He had his phone out of his pocket and his assistant on the line before he even had the car started.

Ally was in for a rude awakening.

Ally’s anger carried her as far as the kitchen for a glass of water before it deflated in a rush that had her knees buckling. Ice rattled in the glass as she filled it from the tap with a shaky hand. Easing onto a bar stool gratefully, she sipped carefully and cursed Chris for making her lose her temper.

She never lost her temper. She was the calm one while everyone else spun out of control. Molly had always praised her flair for diplomacy, a skill she’d honed over years of dealing with her family and their constant dramatics. Why had it failed her now? Instead of calmly—rationally—coming to a workable agreement and smoothing ruffled feathers, she’d managed to make the situation worse. Where was her famed calm and diplomacy today? It had to be the hormones. This pregnancy was really messing with her head.

But now that she could see something other than a red haze…Ugh. She may not know Chris very well, but she had a sinking feeling she’d made a huge tactical mistake in firing up his anger.

Her five minutes with Google earlier today had told her a lot about the great Chris Wells. A true golden boy, he came from old Charleston money and had the whole sailing world worshipping at his feet. Maybe she should have given in to her curiosity sooner; then she wouldn’t have been at such a disadvantage today.

“You sure know how to pick them,” Molly had said it with a kind of begrudging awe, but Ally knew that wasn’t the case at all. Molly saw his good looks, his charm and his money, and therefore branded him a good catch. Ally, though, knew better. Looks, charm and money didn’t equal squat in her book. Gerry had looks and charm to spare, yet he’d been an emotional black hole. She’d invested far too much in his dreams, only to get nothing in return except four years of doing his laundry. Golden boys had a tendency to expect the world to revolve around them, and she had learned her lesson the hard way. Hell, her own brother was a shining example—handsome and full of charm, he’d been dazzling girls since junior high. But he was self-centered and expected everyone to dance to his tune just for the privilege of basking in the reflected glow. His girlfriend, Diane, would have been history by now if she hadn’t turned up pregnant, and even impending fatherhood hadn’t tamed Steven.

If she’d found all this out about Chris and hadn’t been carrying his child, she probably wouldn’t have contacted him. Once bitten, twice shy. Between her brother and Gerry, she had enough experience to know that Chris would be a very bad idea.

And now she had someone else to think about, someone she had to put first. How long would Chris want to play Daddy before he got bored and went back to his far-more-exciting world? No way she’d put her son or daughter through that.

Most likely Chris was just reacting out of shock, anger and guilt. It would pass now that he knew she didn’t expect anything from him, and his sense of responsibility would fade. She just needed to wait it out. After all, even as mad as he was at the moment, what could he do?

Glad she hadn’t completely lost her ability to be rational, she sent a quick text message to Molly to let her know everything was okay and that she was now going to take a much-needed nap. The usual afternoon fatigue was even worse in the aftermath of such emotional upheaval.

She pulled the shades to darken the bedroom and didn’t bother to do any more than kick off her shoes before stretching out across the comforter. As she closed her eyes, the image of Chris climbing out of that car—that one second when she’d recognized him, before he had turned around and she’d seen the anger on his face—was waiting for her. And now that she was alone and sleep was crowding in from all sides, she couldn’t ignore the fact her heart had skipped a beat in excitement, and for a fraction of a second her whole body had screamed to life.

If only things were different….

Don’t go there. Ally rolled over and punched the pillow into shape. This was not the time to play If Only. She knew better than that. Things were what they were, and the sooner she got that through her head the better.

But it didn’t stop her mind from toying with the might-have-beens until sleep dragged her under a few minutes later.