Читать книгу The Millionaire's Pregnant Mistress - Michelle Celmer - Страница 7

“Absolutely not! There is no way I’m moving in with you.” All that Hollywood fame must have gone to Ben’s head if he thought he could boss her around. He hadn’t even asked. Instead he’d issued an order.

He sat casually behind his enormous desk like a king on his throne addressing his royal subjects. The only thing missing was a scepter and crown.

And tights—which she had to admit would be well worth seeing.

Instead he wore black again. Black shirt, black slacks. Did he own a single article of clothing in color?

Tess turned to see if the stern woman who had let her in was still standing in the doorway listening.

Thankfully she wasn’t.

Ben, Tess could handle. At least, she was going to give it a valiant effort. His housekeeper on the other hand—Lurch’s twin sister—gave her a serious case of the creeps.

“I have an apartment,” she said. “I don’t need or want to live here.”

“I didn’t need or want a child, yet one is being forced on me.”

“I did not make this baby all by myself,” she reminded him. “Besides, what has that got to do with where I live?”

“You live in a disreputable part of town. It’s not safe.”

“I do the best I can.” Not everyone was born with a silver spoon in their mouth—or in his case, an entire service for twelve. She was quite sure he had no concept of what it was like to struggle, to live on canned spaghetti and Wonder Bread until the next payday.

“If geography is such a problem for you, we can compromise. If you help me out financially, I can get a place in a part of town you deem as safe. Then we’ll both be happy.”

“Not acceptable. I need you here.”

“As I said, I don’t want to live here.”

“Shall I send someone over to help you pack?” he asked, as if she hadn’t just emphatically stated that she would not be moving.

She normally had interminable patience, but this guy was pushing all her buttons. “Are you hearing impaired? I said that I’m not moving into your house. That’s final.”

He went on as though she hadn’t spoken. “I also think it would be best if you quit your job. As a maid, you probably work with harmful cleaning solvents, and heavy lifting must be involved. It could be damaging for the baby.”

Whoa. Someone had serious control issues. Did he really think she would allow herself to become totally dependent on him? She’d been on her own since she was sixteen. She knew how to take care of herself, and she would take care of her baby. She just needed a little help—emphasis on little. A couple hundred bucks a month to help cover her extra expenses.

She glanced at the crystal tumbler filled with some sort of amber colored alcohol sitting on his desk. Warning bells clanged like crazy through her brain. She’d heard rumors from the other employees at the resort that he’d become a reclusive alcoholic since he’d lost his wife. The reclusive part she believed, the alcoholic part she’d only hoped wasn’t true. Looks like she might have been wrong.

Not that everyone who drank was an alcoholic, but she wasn’t taking any chances.

“I’m not quitting my job. I’ll give you weekly updates on my condition if it will make you feel better, but that’s it.”

“That reminds me,” he said. “I’ve picked an obstetrician I’d like you to see. He’s the best in the area.”

And it just kept getting weirder. Now he wanted to pick her doctor? Next he would be telling her how to dress, and what to eat.

“I already have a doctor I’m comfortable with that takes my insurance,” she told him.

“Expense isn’t an issue.”

“It is for me, since I’m the one paying for it.”

He folded his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. His face was partially hidden in shadow, but if she could see it, she was sure he would look annoyed.

It was so darned dark in here.

“What are you, a vampire? Could we maybe open some drapes? Turn on a light or two?”

He unfolded his arms, leaned forward and switched on the desk lamp. Yep, he looked annoyed all right.

“You mean to make this as difficult as possible, don’t you?” he asked.

Was he kidding? “I’m being difficult? You’re not the one whose life is going to drastically change. You don’t have to suffer the morning sickness and the weight gain and the stretch marks. And let’s not forget hemorrhoids and heartburn and hours of hard labor. The day you can do all that for me, I’ll let you start calling the shots. Until then, this is my body and my baby and I will go to whichever doctor I choose, and live wherever the heck I want. Is that clear?”

“If you don’t cooperate I could fight you for custody. I have unlimited financial resources.”

She knew he was desperate when he started tossing around legal threats.

“I’ve done my homework. I’ve got the numbers of half a dozen high profile bleeding heart attorneys who would just love to handle a case like mine pro bono.”

She could swear she saw a hint of amusement in his eyes. “Would you really want to put yourself through that? Agree to my terms and I’ll grant you full custody and adequate financial assistance to have you living in luxury for the rest of your life.”

She took a deep, calming breath. “Apparently you’re not hearing what I’m saying. I don’t want to live in luxury. I want a little help. Got it?”

He stared up at her, a vague smile curling his lips.

She propped her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I fail to see what it is about this situation you find amusing.”

He leaned back in his chair, gazing up at her. “I was just thinking about that night in the resort.”

Oh great, now did he think sex would be a part of the deal? “What about it?”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

Now he liked her? That didn’t make any sense.

“You are the most stubborn, self-centered, confusing person I have ever met,” she said, and his grin widened. She never imagined a man so dark and sexy could look so…cute.

Cute? What was she thinking? He wasn’t cute. He was a big pain in the neck.

She flung her hands up. “Fine, don’t help me. Because frankly, it isn’t worth the trouble. The baby and I will manage without you.”

She turned to leave and was halfway to the door when she heard him call, “Tess, wait.”

No way. She was through arguing about this. She and the baby would make it without him. She wasn’t sure how, but she would manage.

She made it to the door and had her hand on the knob when she heard him say, “Please, stay.”

She reluctantly turned back to him.

“I know there has to be a way we can make this work.”

“Unless you’re willing to compromise, I don’t see how.”

“I am.” He gestured to the chair across from his desk. “Please, sit.”

Because he said please, she crossed the room and took a seat.

“Tell me what works for you, then we’ll figure something out.”

“You’re serious?”

“Absolutely.”

“First I have to ask, why the change of heart? Why are you willing to compromise now, when fifteen minutes ago you were being an ogre?”

He wasn’t insulted by the observation, in fact, he smiled. “Fifteen minutes ago I thought I knew who you were.”

“And now?”

“Now I realize I was wrong.”

Tess prayed silently the way she did every morning as her old junker chugged its way up the mountain to the staff parking lot behind the resort. It had stalled twice on the way here. Once she’d flooded the engine and had to wait several minutes, holding up traffic, before it would turn over again.

Her carburetor was terminally ill, but it would be at least three or four months before she had the money saved to replace it. And that was if she did the work herself—which she was pretty sure she could manage given the time to figure it out. She’d blown her entire savings plus a week’s groceries on a gas pump last month. The co-pay for her monthly doctor visits and prenatal vitamins was eating up the rest of her extra cash.

The downside to residing in a resort town was the astronomical cost of living. If she skipped grocery shopping again on Sunday, that would shave a week off her expenses, but the doctor had already expressed concern that she wasn’t gaining enough weight, and a healthy diet was critical for a healthy pregnancy.

She’d spent the last few days thinking about Ben’s offer. As far as she could tell, when she’d threatened to leave, he finally realized she was telling the truth. That the pregnancy was an accident and she wasn’t after his money. Though for the life of her, she still didn’t understand why it was so important that he have her living in his house. But when she stopped to think about it, there was no reason why she absolutely shouldn’t live there. She would have her own suite and could come and go as she pleased.

Everything he’d had to offer sounded pretty good, except for one thing. Despite every other concession he’d made, he still insisted she quit her job.

Tess couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t had some sort of job. Babysitting, delivering papers, stocking shelves at the party store—anything to earn a little extra spending cash. And later, hard work had been a way out of the hellhole that was her stepdad’s house.

If she quit working now, what would she do for money? She already felt uncomfortable taking things from Ben. But to be totally dependent on him?

Frankly, she was scared. What if she gave up her job, then found out he was some kind of creep or weirdo? She’d be stuck, because she seriously doubted anyone would be jumping at the chance to hire a pregnant woman.

She’d told him to give her a few days to think about it, but she still wasn’t sure what to do.

She pulled her car into a spot at the back of the employee lot, glanced at her watch, and cursed under her breath. She was ten minutes late.

Hopping from the car, she bolted for the back entrance. Olivia Montgomery, the owner of the resort, ruled like a foreign dictator, expecting one hundred and ten percent from her employees. Tardiness was not acceptable. And because of her temperamental carburetor, this was Tess’s third time in two weeks.

Tess shoved her way through the door and headed to the employee locker room behind the kitchen. As she turned the corner, her heart sank when she saw the morning shift manager standing next to her locker waiting for her.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said. “Car trouble.”

His sour expression was tarter than usual. She was convinced the guy sucked lemons for breakfast. “Mrs. Montgomery would like a word with you.”

Oh, swell. Getting chewed out by her boss was not her favorite way to start the day.

She shoved her jacket and purse into her locker and headed for Mrs. Montgomery’s office, where the secretary greeted her with a sympathetic smile. “Go on in, she’s waiting for you.”

Tess opened the door and stepped inside the lush office. Her boss was on the phone, but gestured to the chair across from her desk, her expression unreadable.

She spoke for several minutes, then said goodbye to the person on the line, hung up the phone and turned to Tess.

Tess had learned that the best thing to do in a situation like this was to shelve her pride and take responsibility for her actions. “I’m very sorry for being late. I know it’s unacceptable. I swear it won’t happen again.”

Her boss very calmly folded her hands atop her desk. “This is the third time in two weeks, Tess.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

“Well then, you can make it up by working a few extra shifts this week,” she said in that condescending, I’m God and you’re a peon tone. “We have several people out with the flu.”

Tess was already working over fifty hours a week. She’d been suffering a chronic backache and swollen knees from being on her feet too long, and her bad ankle had been stiff and sore. It also seemed that no matter how many hours she slept, she woke feeling exhausted. But she knew that if she didn’t work the extra hours Mrs. Montgomery would find a reason to fire her. She knew Tess was pregnant, and that in several months she would be eligible for paid maternity leave.

She’d been looking for a reason to let Tess go.

And because of that, Tess had been working her tail off at a job that she quite frankly despised, for far less money than she deserved. Didn’t she deserve a break? Hadn’t she earned it?

She thought about Ben’s enormous house and what it would be like to live there. What it would be like to not have to get up at 5 a.m. and drag herself to work. To stay up late watching movies and eating popcorn. To sleep until noon. How it would feel to relax and enjoy her pregnancy.

So maybe she wouldn’t have a lot of extra spending money. So what? She was used to getting by on a tight budget.

But if she did this, that would be it, she would be stuck with Ben for five long months. Although, if she had to be stuck with someone, she could have done a lot worse.

“Well?” Mrs. Montgomery said tightly, expecting an answer.

“No,” Tess said. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Her boss’s eyes narrowed. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”

That wasn’t true. For the first time in her life, Tess actually did have a choice.

What it all came down to was, what was best for her child? She grew up with nothing. Ben had everything. She wanted something in between for her baby.

If she accepted Ben’s offer, the baby would never want for life’s basic necessities, never feel threatened or abused. Her child would go to good schools and get a college education, would have all the opportunities she never had.

Ben could give them that, if she just had a little faith.

She still wasn’t one hundred percent sure she could trust him, but she was so sick of feeling achy and tired and overworked. Maybe it was time she took a chance on him, the way he’d taken a chance on her.

She flashed her boss a smile, feeling that, for the first time in months, maybe she was doing the right thing. “I do have a choice, Mrs. Montgomery. And I choose to quit.”