Читать книгу Falling for King's Fortune / Seduction, Westmoreland Style - Maureen Child, Brenda Jackson - Страница 11

Four

She moved fast, he’d give her that.

But then, shock had slowed him down a little, too.

Jackson was only a step or two behind her, raw emotion pumping through his system. He couldn’t even believe what was happening. At thirty-one years old, he was a father. To a little girl who’d been alive for nearly a year and he hadn’t known it. What the hell was a man supposed to do with information like that?

His gaze fixed on Casey as she hurried across the parking lot and even as furious as he was, he couldn’t stop himself from admiring the rear view of her. Her jeans clung to her behind and her legs like a second skin and instantly, lust roared up inside and kept time with the anger frothing in his gut.

Casey was already at her car, putting the baby into a car seat when he caught up with her. A cold ocean wind slapped at him as he approached, almost as if someone, somewhere was trying to keep him at a distance.

Well the hell with that.

“You can’t just drop this bomb on me, then walk away.”

She flipped her head around, froze him with a hard look and muttered, “Watch me.”

He glanced at the baby, who was watching them both through wide brown eyes. After being around his nieces for several months, Jackson recognized the expression on the baby’s face. The tiny girl looked confused and on the verge of tears. Not what he wanted. So he lowered his voice, tried to force a smile into place and said, “Look, you surprised me. Sandbagged me. And I think you know it.”

Casey paid no attention to him, instead, she struggled with the straps on the car seat. “This stupid thing always gives me fits.”

He didn’t want to talk about the car seat. Getting more impatient by the minute, he finally took hold of Casey’s arm, ignored the instant sizzle that touching her caused, pulled her back and said “Let me do it.”

She laughed. “How do you know anything about infant car seats?”

“I have two nieces,” he muttered, not bothering to glance at her.

He’d had plenty of practice over the last year, dealing with all of the accoutrements that seemed to come along with a baby. Emma had more luggage than her parents and in a few short months, Katie’s toys and necessities had completely taken over the vineyard.

In seconds, he had the buckles snapped securely. He looked at his daughter and tried to wrap his brain around that simple fact. Didn’t work. Still, he traced one finger down the baby’s cheek and got a giggle for his trouble. His heart ached with a completely unfamiliar feeling as he looked into eyes so like his own.

When he backed out of the car, he was still smiling until he caught the fiery look in Casey’s eyes.

“Thanks,” she said quickly, then pushed past him to close the car door and walk around to the driver’s seat.

Jackson stayed right at her heels. Before she could open her car door and escape him, he grabbed hold of her arm again. “Just wait a damn minute, all right?”

She pulled free of his grasp and he let her go. Shoving one hand through his hair, he took a breath, glanced around at the full parking lot and then looked back at her. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

“Nothing,” she said and now she sounded almost tired. “I’ve already said that. Now I have to go.”

He slapped one hand against the car door and held it shut. Bending down, he looked directly into her blue eyes and said, “You’ve known about the baby—”

“Mia—”

“—Mia,” he corrected, “for nearly two years. I’ve known for—” he checked his watch. “Ten minutes. Maybe you could cut me a break here, huh? It’s not every day a man finds out he’s a father while sitting in a twenty-four-hour diner that smells of corned beef hash.”

An all-too-brief smile curved her mouth then disappeared again in a heartbeat.

Jackson’s mind was racing. He’d just received the biggest news of his life. How the hell was he supposed to react?

“Fine,” she said and he could see that the effort to be reasonable was costing her. “You need time. Take all the time you want. Take eternity if you need to.” Her gaze bored into his. “While you get used to the idea, Mia and I will go back to our lives.”

“Just like that?”

She jerked him a nod and the silver stars in her ears winked at him, reflecting off the parking lot lights. “Just like that. You needed to know, now you do. That’s all.”

He looked through the car windows at the back of the car seat. He couldn’t see Mia’s face, but he didn’t have to. The image was burned into his memory. He doubted he would ever forget his first look at her.

Something momentous had just happened to him and damned if he could make sense of it standing in a crowded parking lot. So he’d let Casey go. Let her take his daughter away.

For now.

She’d find out soon enough that he wasn’t a man to be dismissed whenever she felt it was time.

“All right. Take Mia home.” Easing off the car, Jackson stepped aside and allowed her to open the door. He noticed the wary suspicion in her eyes, but didn’t care to say anything that might ease it. Let her worry a bit. She’d put him through the wringer in a matter of a few minutes. Worrying about it now was the least she could do.

She tossed her purse onto the front passenger seat, curled her fingers over the top of the car door and looked at him. In the dim light, her deep blue eyes were shadowed. A trick of the night? Or something else?

“I guess this is goodbye,” she said and mustered up a smile that only managed to tip one corner of her mouth. “I don’t suppose we’ll be seeing each other again, so have a nice life, Jackson.”

He watched her leave, memorized her license plate number and was already making plans as he headed to his car.

“It went great,” Casey lied as she moved around her kitchen, entangling herself in the phone cord as she went. She really had to get a cordless for this room. Opening the refrigerator door, she pulled out a bottle of chardonnay then went for a wineglass. “He saw Mia, we talked, then we came home and he went…wherever men like him go.”

Mia was sound asleep in her room, the house was quiet and Casey was still a bundle of nerves. Seeing Jackson again had been way too hard. She hadn’t expected the sexual tug to be as strong as before. And then, watching his face as he looked at Mia and realized the truth had really sucker punched her. He’d looked stunned, of course. But there was an undercurrent, too. A look of a man glimpsing something he’d never expected to find. Like he’d stumbled across a treasure—just before his eyes went cold and calculating again.

And that worried her a little.

After all, as Dani had pointed out, the King family was a powerful force in California. What if he decided to take Mia from Casey? Then what? No, she told herself instantly. He’d signed a form when he donated his sperm, giving up all rights to a baby. Though with his family’s power, he could probably negate that form. He wasn’t interested in having a child.

Instead, he’d actually thought Casey had come to him for money!

Was that really how he looked at the world around him? Everything solved by a checkbook or a thick wallet? Did he really believe that she would use her daughter to make money? What kind of horrible people did he know, anyway?

“Uh-huh,” Dani said. “Your voice sounds filled with all kinds of good feelings and happy butterflies.”

“Okay,” she admitted, “no happy butterflies. Should have known I couldn’t put one past you.” Casey poured the sunlight-colored wine into a glass, recorked the bottle and only then noticed the label. Kings Vineyard. Perfect. Even when he wasn’t here, she was reminded of Jackson. Not that she needed reminding.

She could almost feel him right now, as she stood, safe in her tiny kitchen. The man’s inherent strength and presence was something that lingered. At least, it did in her case.

“It wasn’t great and it wasn’t easy. He was stunned and not in a happy way.” Casey nodded firmly, forced herself to put a good spin on the night by adding, “But it ended well. I came home with Mia and Jackson went away.”

“Permanently?” Dani asked.

“I hope so,” Casey admitted. “He said he needed time to adjust. I told him we don’t want anything from him, but I’m not sure he heard me. Either way though, the point is, mission accomplished. I told him, it’s over now, and I can go back to my life. Put this all behind me.”

“And you really think it’s going to be that easy?” Dani paused, half covered the phone receiver and said, “Mikey, don’t run the choo-choo train on your sister’s head. That’s a good boy.”

Casey grinned. Trust Dani and her wild bunch to keep things in perspective. “Having trouble?”

“Nice subject change,” Dani told her with a laugh. “And the answer is yes. I love my husband, don’t get me wrong, but when Mike’s in charge, the kids pretty much rule the house. When it’s my turn, I spend most of my time in damage control.”

Dani’s husband Mike, a Darby police officer, worked nights and Dani worked days. That way, there was always a parent around for the kids. A tired parent, but at least the children were cared for by family. Of course, Dani insisted it had been so long since she’d had sex, she only had a vague recollection of it.

Casey’s memories on the other hand, were clear and vivid. Which was just part of the problem.

“I don’t know how you take care of Mia all alone,” Dani said, switching the subject back to Casey. “I mean, Mike and I have separate shifts, but we always know there’s somebody to back us up. To turn to. To whine to.”

Casey smiled a little wistfully. She’d known going in, that she and her child would be alone. And that was okay with her most of the time. If she sometimes envied Dani’s relationship with her husband, she figured that was only normal.

“I’ve never known it any other way,” she admitted, putting the wine bottle back in the fridge and picking up her glass for a sip. “When I decided to get pregnant, I knew I’d be doing it alone. Sure, there’s nobody to help out, but I don’t have to share her with anyone either.”

“You don’t just share the bad stuff, Casey,” Dani said. “It’s nice to have someone to turn to and say, ‘Hey, did you just see that? Isn’t our kid brilliant?’”

Casey lifted her chin. “I have you to call and brag to. Besides, Mia and I get along great.”

“I love you and Mia like crazy, you know that. And nobody’s saying you’re not doing great on your own.”

“But? I hear a but in there somewhere.”

“Okay, but,” Dani said. “I think you’re being unrealistic to believe that Jackson King is going to disappear just because you want him to.”

Casey’s stomach did a quick flip and she took another sip of wine. She didn’t want to believe her friend, but hadn’t she been thinking the same thing earlier, while she’d bathed Mia and put her to bed?

Jackson came from a wealthy, powerful family. If he wanted to make trouble for her, he could. Right thing to do or not, she was beginning to wish she’d never contacted Jackson.

Casey dropped into one of the two wooden chairs pulled up to a tiny table in one corner of her kitchen. She stared out at the night beyond the windowpanes, where her postage-stamp-sized backyard lay and tried to keep panic at bay.

Shaking her head, she said, more to convince herself than Dani, “Why would he come back? He doesn’t want a baby. His whole lifestyle is built around hedonism. He does what he wants when he wants. He’s got a home he rarely stays in, his business has him flying all over the world and he’s not exactly a candidate for Mr. Commitment.”

“That’s the thing though, honey,” Dani said softly. “He’s never had a reason to commit to anything before, has he?”

“No. No, he hasn’t.” Casey set her wineglass down on the table and carefully unwrapped the curled phone cord from around her shoulders. “And by telling him the truth, I’ve just given him one, haven’t I?”

The next morning, Jackson was at the King family ranch, having called an emergency family meeting. He faced both of his brothers and was grateful that neither one of them had brought their wives into this.

“Did you actually see the DNA report?” Adam asked.

Jackson stopped pacing the confines of the elegantly appointed room and shot his oldest brother a look. “No, I didn’t.”

“Well, why the hell not?” Travis demanded from his seat in a dark brown leather chair.

Shifting him a glare, Jackson snapped, “I was a little shocked, okay? Having a child you never knew existed thrown at you all of a sudden is more surprising than you might think. Besides, I don’t need to see the report. You’ll know what I mean when you see Mia. She looks just like Emma and Katie.” He paused for effect, then added, “Prettier, of course, but then I’m the father.”

Adam chuckled and shook his head. “You’re sure taking this better than I thought you would.”

“You should have seen me last night.” Jackson had spent the entire night prowling through the home he rarely stayed in. The rooms were empty, the caretakers who lived there permanently were in their quarters and he’d listened for hours to the echoes of his own footsteps.

He’d tried to imagine the sound of a child’s laughter ringing through the big house, but hadn’t quite been able to do it. Hadn’t really known if he’d wanted to do it. But even as he told himself that, he’d realized a part of him was already making room for his child in his life.

Travis shook his head and scowled into his coffee. Adam on the other hand, sat behind his desk, his feet, crossed at the ankle, perched on one corner of it. “What does she want?” he asked quietly.

“She says, nothing.”

“Right.” Travis blew out a breath.

Jackson walked back across the floor to face both of his brothers. “Look, she just found out I’m the father. I told you she went to that sperm bank and—”

“I can’t believe you did that,” Adam interrupted.

“Not the point,” Jackson told him, refusing to go back over past mistakes. “Barn door open, horse gone.”

“He’s right,” Travis said, standing up to refill his coffee cup from the thermal pot on Adam’s desk. “How it happened doesn’t matter. What matters is what comes next.”

“What do you want to happen next?” Adam asked.

Hell if he knew.

He threw his hands in the air and let them fall to his sides again. This was something he was so not prepared to deal with. Something that had never once come up on his radar screen, so to speak. Now that it was there though, he had to step up and make the decision about how to go forward.

Images of Casey and Mia filled his mind. He was a father.

What the hell was he supposed to do with that?

“Jackson?”

Coming up out of his thoughts like a drowning man breaching the surface of a deep lake, Jackson looked at Adam and said quietly, “She’s my daughter. I won’t be kept away from her. Casey’s just going to have to deal with that reality. Mia is a King. She’s going to grow up knowing what that means.”

Adam and Travis exchanged glances and nodding, turned back to him.

“Of course she is,” Adam said.

“She’s family,” Travis put in.

“Her mother’s not going to like it,” Jackson told them.

“You’ll have to find a way to work around that.”

“I can do that,” he said, though inwardly, he admitted that a woman as stubborn as Casey wasn’t going to be easy to outmaneuver.

“There’s something else to remember here too,” Travis put in a moment later. He waited until both of his brothers were looking at him before saying, “You’ve got Marian to consider, in all this.”

“Marian.” Jackson whispered her name and shaking his head, realized he hadn’t given her a single thought since the night before. But it didn’t matter, he decided. He and Marian had a business arrangement. It wasn’t as if this were a great love match, after all. He’d tell her what had happened and let her know the engagement would have to be postponed. “She’ll understand.”

“What makes you think so?” Adam prompted.

“Because she wants this merger. And her father wants this marriage too,” Jackson told him. “Having King Jets linked to the Cornice family airfields will be good advertising for them and they know it. Our presence will bring in even more business for them.”

“Still not going to make her happy to hear about the baby,” Travis said.

“She’ll have to deal with it,” Jackson declared, unwilling to accept any other outcome. “I’ll simply explain that I just found out I have a daughter.”

Silence greeted him. Then he repeated the most earth-shattering part of that last sentence. “I have a daughter.”

Travis laughed. “I know just how you feel. Strange, isn’t it?”

Strange, yes, Jackson thought as he mentally repeated the word daughter. A part of him thrilled to it.

Which shook him some. He hadn’t planned on this happening. If someone had asked him flat out if he’d wanted to be a father, he would have said no instantly. But now, faced with the reality of Mia, he found himself wanting to know her. Wanting her to know him.

There was a kernel of something inside him that was already taking root, blossoming despite the strange situation he found himself in. There was a little girl alive right now because of him. Didn’t that mean that they already had a connection, however slight?

His brothers each looked at him with understanding and he appreciated knowing that he wasn’t alone in this. After all, they’d already proven they could survive fatherhood.

“Seems like the King brothers are going to produce all girls in this generation,” Travis mused.

“Give me a houseful just like Emma and I’ll be happy,” Adam said, then frowned. “Until boys start coming around.”

“We don’t have to worry about that just yet,” Travis said.

Jackson though, paled a little. He’d just discovered his daughter, now he had to worry about her growing up? Dating? Meeting guys like him?

Being a father just got a lot more complicated.

The following morning, Casey had Mia happily spending time in her walker, bumping around the floor, the plastic wheels making a whirring noise, alerting Casey to her daughter’s whereabouts at all times. Mia’s throaty laughter spilled into the sunshine-filled room and Casey was smiling as she bent over the graphics program on her computer.

Her home business, Papyrus, had really taken off lately. She designed and made exclusive brochures, gift cards, high-end stationery and invitations for every occasion from weddings to birthday parties. She had a small, but select clientele and that list was steadily growing, thanks to word of mouth.

She made her own hours, worked out of her home and had plenty of time to devote to her daughter. The best of all possible worlds. If there was a niggling seed of worry called Jackson King at the back of her mind on this beautiful morning, she made a concerted effort to ignore it.

Talking to Dani the night before had actually reinforced Casey’s belief that she wouldn’t have to be concerned about Jackson. Yes, Dani thought he’d be back, but Casey was sure her friend was wrong about this. Jackson was simply not the kind of man to be interested in a daughter he’d had no choice in creating. Mia did not fit into his lifestyle, for which Casey was grateful.

No doubt, Jackson was already in one of his luxury jets, flying off to Paris, or London….

“What would that be like?” she whispered, leaning back in her desk chair and staring across the room at Mia, busily chewing the ear of her beloved teddy bear. “Imagine that, sweetie, jumping into your own jet and taking off whenever you felt like it. Where would we go?”

Mia babbled, waved her arms and accidentally tossed Teddy to the ground. Before her little mouth had completely turned down to initiate crying, Casey was up and out of her chair. Picking up the lop-eared toy, she knelt down in front of Mia, handed Teddy back to her and leaned in to plant a kiss on her forehead.

“What do you think, sweetie? London? No,” she said as Mia shook her head, laughing. “You’re right. London in springtime, way too rainy. Okay, Paris then! We’ll go to the Louvre and I’ll show you all the beautiful paintings. Would you like that?”

Naturally, Mia didn’t understand the question, but she loved having her mom’s full attention, so she jumped up and down in her seat and babbled excitedly.

“Good! We’ll go on one of those dinner cruises, too, what do you think? We’ll see all the pretty lights of the city and get you some yummy French baby food?”

Mia giggled again and Casey paused just to listen. Was there any more wonderful sound than that deep-from-the-belly laugh her daughter had? Mia’s big brown eyes sparkled, her wisps of dark brown hair flew about her head in a soft halo and her chubby cheeks were rosy.

“What did I ever do without you?” Casey asked, suddenly filled with so much love, she could hardly stand it. Scooping the baby out of her chair, she cuddled her close, burying her face in the curve of Mia’s neck to inhale that soft scent that was so completely Mia.

Pulling back, Casey looked at her little girl and said wistfully, “I should have thanked your daddy. Whether or not he knows it, he gave me the most amazing gift ever.”

The doorbell rang and Casey, carrying Mia, walked out of her cramped, makeshift office, down the short hall and through the small, cluttered living room. Evidence of Mia’s presence in the house was everywhere. From the playpen tucked beneath the front window to the toys on the floor and the neatly folded clean clothes in the laundry basket perched on the love seat.

Casey shifted Mia higher on her hip and automatically leaned in to look through the peephole in the front door.

Jackson.

He looked different than he had the night before. He was wearing blue jeans today and a black T-shirt that molded itself to his broad chest. On the left breast pocket of the shirt, there was a stylized gold crown with the words King Jets beneath it. He looked more approachable today and therefore…more dangerous.

Instantly, Casey’s heartbeat raced and her mouth went dry. What was he doing here? How did he find her?

“How?” she whispered, answering her own foolish question. “You told him your name and where you lived. Of course he found you. Idiot.”

The doorbell rang again and Mia squealed.

“Shh…” Casey winced, and jiggled her daughter, hoping to keep her quiet.

“I can hear the baby,” Jackson called through the door.

The timbre of his voice resonated throughout Casey’s body. She tried to tell herself that the shivers it created was nothing more than nerves. But even she wasn’t buying it. Her body, despite what her mind would have preferred, was reacting to the man exactly as it had the first night they met.

Like a lit match set to dynamite.

“Open the door, Casey,” he said, voice just loud enough to carry.

“Why?” she called back, when she knew it was useless to pretend she wasn’t home. Her car was in the driveway and Mia was burbling loud enough to alert him.

“I want to talk to you.”

“We said everything we had to say last night.”

“You might have,” he acknowledged, “but I haven’t even started yet.”

She chanced another look through the peephole and this time, met his stare directly. He’d bent down and was staring right back at her as if he could see her, as well.

Those dark brown eyes were filled with a quiet determination and Casey knew he wouldn’t be leaving until she’d heard him out. Her shoulders slumped in defeat before straightening again with a touch of defiance. He wanted to talk? Fine. She’d let him say his piece, then they could go their separate ways.

“Your daddy’s awful pushy,” she whispered as she flipped the dead bolt lock and slowly opened the door.

“I heard that, too.” One of Jackson’s dark eyebrows arched as he gave her a cool look just before he stepped past her into the house.

Casey closed the door and locked it, then turned around to look at him. Jackson King standing in the middle of her living room somehow dwarfed her whole house.

True, the older bungalow was tiny anyway, but it had always seemed more than sufficient for her and Mia. Now though, with the strength of Jackson’s presence, the house seemed to shrink substantially in size.

His gaze was on hers and she felt the heat of that stare burn right into her. His dark hair was windblown, his jaw was clenched tight and as he folded his arms across his chest and braced his feet wide apart in what looked like a battle stance, she felt a zip of something hot and undeniable.

How could she possibly keep reacting sexually to a man she should be avoiding? And how could she keep him from noticing?

“I didn’t expect to see you again,” she said, walking past him, and silently cursing the fact that since she had to move sideways to do it, her breasts brushed against his chest. Did he just move in even closer?

“Then that just proves you don’t know me as well as you think.” His voice was whiskey rough and pitched low enough to send ripples of awareness skittering along Casey’s spine.

Darn it.

Determined to at least behave as if she wasn’t thrown for a loop by his unannounced visit, Casey headed for an overstuffed chair near Mia’s playpen. Once she was seated, she turned Mia around to sit on her lap and looked up at Jackson. He seemed to tower over her. She didn’t really remember him being this tall. This intimidating.

Glancing around the room, he spotted a low hassock, gave it a shove with the toe of a scuffed-up cowboy boot and when it was positioned in front of her, he sat down on it. Elbows braced on his knees, he turned the full force of his dark gaze on her and Casey held her breath for a slow count of ten before asking, “Why are you here, Jackson?”

“To talk.”

“About?”

“Mia.”

She stiffened.

His gaze locked on hers, he said, “I know that neither one of us was expecting this.”

She nodded, since her throat was suddenly so tight, she didn’t think she’d be able to squeeze out a single word. Did he have to sit so closely? Did he have to smell so good? Did he have to have a voice that sounded like hot nights and silk sheets?

“So,” he said, his tone pleasant, though his eyes were dark and unreadable. “Since we find ourselves in a unique position, I’ve got a unique solution to the situation.”

She found her voice. It was scratchy and she was forced to clear her throat, but she managed. “I didn’t realize we required a ‘solution’.”

“Then you were wrong again,” he said and gave her a brief half smile.

“Jackson…”

“You’ve lived here three years, right?”

The statement was so far out of the blue, she only blinked at him for a second or two. “How do you know that?”

“You rent it.”

She shifted, lifted her chin and said, “Did you investigate me or something?”

“Why wouldn’t I? You show up claiming I’m the father of your child, it only makes sense to check you out.”

“I can’t believe this.” Nerves jumped inside her and Casey suddenly felt as though she couldn’t draw enough air into her lungs. She felt trapped in the little house she’d always loved so much.

“Since you rent, it’ll make things easier all the way around.” He nodded thoughtfully, glanced at the cramped quarters and she could guess exactly what he was thinking. He came from big, towering piles of money. He owned a mansion he rarely used and kept hotel suites ready “just in case.” He had no idea what life for real people was like and she was sure he was mentally dismissing the home she’d made for Mia and herself.

But Casey had nothing to be ashamed of. The house was small, but it was clean and cute and just enough for her and her daughter. And if he had investigated her background, then he knew she was honest, paid her bills on time and that she was completely capable of caring for her child.

He could think whatever he liked. It really didn’t matter to her one way or the other.

“That will make this easier,” he said at last.

“Make what easier?”

“I want you and Mia to move in with me.”