Читать книгу Millionaire Mavericks: The Oilman’s Baby Bargain - Day Leclaire, Michelle Celmer - Страница 8

As soon as he left the senator’s office, Mitch called his brother.

Lance answered on the first ring. “What did he say?”

“He agreed.”

Lance released a breath.

“You’re sure you’re ready to deal with the backlash?” Mitch asked. “This isn’t going to look great for you.”

“After the way I humiliated her, I would say I probably deserve it. I’m just sorry that you have to go through this.”

“Sorry for what? You were going to make the same sacrifice.”

“But I didn’t. I went with my heart.”

“I’m sure Lexi and I will eventually grow fond of one another,” he lied. It was probably more likely they would live completely separate lives. If they didn’t kill each other first.

“I just feel guilty as hell making you do this. Now that I know what it feels like to be with someone I love and trust, I want the same for you. I want you to be happy.”

“When our company is thriving and we’re leaving our competitors in the dust, I will be. Besides, you know I don’t believe in love. Life doesn’t work that way. Not for me, anyhow.” Nor did he want it to. It was tough to betray a man who refused to leave himself vulnerable. No woman would hurt him the way his mother had.

His brother could see right through him. “Not all women abandon their families,” he said. “And when Mom did, I’m sure she had her reasons.”

Of course she did. Their father was a bastard, emotionally, and at times physically, abusive. But if she loved Mitch and Lance, why leave them behind to suffer in her place? Why not take them with her?

He had no doubt that Lexi was self-centered and spoiled enough to do the same. If she did agree to marry him, he would insist they remain childless. It would be cruel to bring a baby into a loveless shell of a marriage. Sometimes he wished his parents would have spared him the burden of ever being born.

“There is a catch,” Mitch told him. “Alexis has to willingly accept my proposal.”

Lance let out a low whistle. “Maybe it was my imagination, but there didn’t seem to be any love lost between the two of you when I broke the engagement.”

Lance had no idea. “He also warned me that if I hurt her, he’ll crush us.”

Lance chuckled. “The old goat doesn’t pull any punches, does he?”

“You’re not concerned?”

“Why should I be? I have total faith in you.”

Mitch hoped that faith wasn’t misplaced. He’d already let his brother down once, betraying him by sleeping with his soon-to-be fiancée. Although it wasn’t as if Lance loved Lexi, or thought of the marriage as anything more than a business arrangement. Mitch, on the other hand, had honestly believed there had been a connection between Lexi and him. If he had known that Lance loved Kate the night that he slept with Lexi, he might have asked Lexi to marry him, instead. But she had only been using him.

Ironic that he would be stuck marrying her regardless.

“You can still back out,” Lance said.

No, he couldn’t. This marriage was imperative. “I’ve already made my decision. I’m going to call her right now and set up a meeting.”

“Suppose you ask, and she says no.”

A very likely scenario. But every woman had a weakness. He would find hers and use it to his advantage. “I’ll just have to make her an offer she can’t refuse.”

Though she hadn’t yet sought her father’s approval, Lexi laid out her clothes for the maid to pack. Her plane departed the day after tomorrow and nothing short of the apocalypse would stop her from being on it. The way she figured it, an emotional meltdown during supper and tearful pleading should bend him to her will.

Her cell phone rang and she checked the display. It was a Houston number that she didn’t recognize. Curious, she answered.

“Lexi, it’s Mitchell Brody.”

Her heart plummeted to her toes at the sound of his voice. “Hello, Mr. Brody,” she said in her coolest tone.

“I was wondering if we can arrange a meeting. This afternoon, if possible.”

A meeting? What could they possibly have to say to each other?

Fear slithered down her spine. He couldn’t know about the baby, could he? Only Tara knew, and she swore not to breathe a word to anyone.

She was being paranoid. Of course he didn’t know. Anything he could possibly have to say to her at this point was irrelevant.

“I’m afraid I don’t have time,” she told him. “I’m packing for a trip. Perhaps we could schedule a meeting in a few weeks, after I return.” Maybe by then she would know what she planned to do.

“I’m afraid this can’t wait,” he said. “It’s urgent that I speak with you today. I can be there in twenty minutes.”

Though he was the last man on earth that she wanted to see right now, her curiosity had been piqued. Maybe he wanted to beg her forgiveness, tell her that calling their night together a mistake had been a gross error in judgment.

Maybe he was coming to tell her that he loved her. She could at least hear him out, let him grovel a little before she told him to go to hell.

“Fine,” she said.

“I’ll see you in twenty minutes.”

Mitch was at her door in fifteen. When the bell rang, she waved the butler away and answered it herself.

She’d almost forgotten how beautiful he was, how tall and dark and imposing. How delicious he smelled. Some small part of her ached to be close to him, to touch him again, to vault herself into his arms. Probably thanks to the pregnancy hormones that had been wreaking havoc with her emotions the past few weeks.

The easy smile Mitch usually wore was absent. His jaw was set and his expression serious. In fact, he looked almost…nervous. She didn’t think men like Mitch ever got nervous.

“Thank you for agreeing to see me,” he said.

She folded her arms across her chest. “What was so important that it couldn’t wait?”

“Is there somewhere we can speak privately?”

She nodded, and he followed her across the foyer to the study. When they were inside, she shut the door. “Well?”

“First, I want to apologize again for my brother’s behavior.”

“Don’t bother. He did me a favor. We would have been miserable together.” She paused, then asked, “How is Lance?”

“Great. Very happy.”

“I’m glad. But that isn’t what you came here to talk about.”

“No, it isn’t,” he said, looking troubled. “As you probably know, Lance and I are still in need of your father’s support.”

“Good luck with that.” Her father had been furious with the Brody brothers, and still was, as far as she could tell.

“I had a meeting with him today.”

Her eyes widened. “He actually agreed to meet with you?”

“I can be very persuasive.”

He didn’t have to tell her that. Had he not been so persuasive, she wouldn’t be in her current dilemma.

“The senator and I have reached an…understanding.”

Why did she get the feeling that she wasn’t going to like this?

“What kind of understanding?”

“Your father has promised his support if you marry me, instead.”

Marry him? After what had happened with Lance, would her father honestly force her to marry the other Brody brother? And why hadn’t he said anything to her? Why hadn’t he warned her?

“Another business arrangement?” she asked, and Mitch nodded. “Do I have a choice in the matter?”

“In fact, you do. The stipulation was that I have to convince you to marry me.”

Her mouth fell open. “He actually said that?”

“Essentially, yes.”

She could see that the prospect of having to beg Lexi to marry him made Mitch uncomfortable. As it should, after the way he’d used her. Score one for good ol’ Dad. And she knew exactly why the senator had agreed to this arrangement. He’d mentioned more than once that he believed Mitch possessed presidential-size political potential. Social status meant everything to him and he would love nothing more than to see his precious daughter serve as first lady to the nation.

Whether or not Mitch was the least bit interested in a political career, Lexi didn’t have a clue, and the idea of spending the rest of her life married to someone so coldhearted and manipulative—too much like her father—turned her already questionable stomach.

Yet she couldn’t deny that this could be the answer to all of her problems. Marrying Mitch would give her child legitimacy. Although people—her father in particular—might get suspicious when she gave birth to a full-term-size baby two months early. But she could figure that out later.

The real question was, could she stand to be married to Mitch for the rest of her life?

Even if she did decide to marry him, she wouldn’t let Mitch off the hook too easily. She was going to make him work for it.

“After the way your brother humiliated me, what makes you believe I would even consider marrying you?” she asked.

“Because I have a plan that will leave my brother looking like the humiliated one.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, unable to resist taking the bait. “How will you manage that?”

“It will be leaked that you and I have been secretly seeing each other, and that I seduced you away from my brother that week in D.C. People will be led to believe that you were planning to break the engagement, only Lance did it first, before you had the chance.”

“And what will make them believe that? What if they think it’s just gossip?”

“My brother and I will have a very public argument to drive the point home.”

Reputation was everything to men like Lance and Mitch, so she couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit touched. “Lance would do that for me?”

“We’ll do anything for the sake of our business.”

So, they weren’t doing this for her. They were doing it for their business. Her vindication was just a convenient side effect. She should have known.

Ironically, their so-called plan wasn’t that far from the truth. Mitch had seduced her, and for a short time she had seriously considered choosing him over his brother.

“Does Lance know what happened?” she asked.

“You mean that night at the hotel?”

She nodded.

“Of course not. As far as he’s concerned, this is a total fabrication.”

And she could see from Mitch’s demeanor that he intended to keep it that way. That would be tough when news of the baby broke. Lance was eventually going to find out.

The truth was, she cared little about her humiliation, and what people might think of her. For the baby’s sake, however, she would be a fool to turn down Mitch’s offer. A marriage to him would grant the kind of life that the baby deserved.

“My answer is yes,” she said. “I’ll marry you.”

He looked surprised that she would acquiesce so easily. “We should do it soon. I was thinking a small civil ceremony at the courthouse.”

The sooner—and the simpler—the better as far as she was concerned. So much for the extravagant and blissful white wedding she had always dreamed of. “Fine.”

“And we should plan a honeymoon. To make it look more authentic.”

She thought of the nonrefundable trip she had just booked. “I’m leaving for a seven-day trip to Greece the day after tomorrow. Would that be authentic enough for you?”

He nodded. “That would be perfect.”

“I’ll have my assistant book you a seat.”

“And I’ll have mine make the wedding arrangements.”

“All right.”

“While we’re away, I’ll arrange to have your things moved into my townhouse.”

She hadn’t given any thought to the fact that he would expect her to live with him. But of course he would. Married couples lived together. Although the idea of living under his roof made her feel vulnerable. Would he try to run her life, controlling her every move the way her father had? Would she be moving from one prison to another?

And if so, what choice did she have?

Mitch must have read her expression. “You’ll have your own room,” he assured her. “You’ll want for nothing.”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t true. She wanted something he wasn’t capable of giving. She wanted to be loved. She wanted someone to respect and appreciate her for who she was deep down inside. And while he did seem to appreciate what she was doing for him, the love and respect part seemed impossible. Maybe she wasn’t worthy. Maybe that was the price she paid for wealth and security. Or maybe the sad truth was, she just wasn’t all that lovable.

“You won’t regret this,” Mitch assured her, which she found terribly ironic, seeing as how she was beginning to regret it already.

“Are you ready for this?” Lance asked Mitch the following evening. They sat across from one another at a linen-draped table in the elaborately decorated dining room of the Texas Cattleman’s Club. It was the most public place they could think of for the desired result. If all went as planned, word of what was about to transpire would burn up the town like flaming tumbleweed in the dry season.

“I’m ready,” Mitch said.

It was a little hard to believe that this time tomorrow he would be married and on his way to Greece. Twenty-nine was too damned young to be a husband, to be tied down. Not that he or Lexi were thinking of this as a real marriage. It was a business arrangement. One that would no doubt cost him dearly. Both emotionally and financially. That was evident from the astronomically priced wedding ring she’d chosen. Her expensive taste apparently knew no bounds.

A grin kicked up one corner of Lance’s mouth. “I’ll go easy on you, little brother.”

“Don’t bother. Whatever you can dish out, I can take.” God knows that there were many times he’d gotten a lot worse from their old man. “We have to make this look real, Lance.”

“Don’t worry, I will,” he said, and just like that, the grin faded. Lance assumed a look of pure disgust, and said in a voice loud enough for the entire room to hear, “You son of a bitch.”

A hush fell over the room and all heads turned in their direction. No turning back now, Mitch thought.

He held up both hands in a defensive gesture and said in a pleading voice, “Let me explain.”

Lance stood so fast his chair flipped backward onto the floor, narrowly missing the table behind theirs. He grabbed his half-full highball glass, rose to his feet and with a flick of his wrist flung the contents into Mitch’s face. As the alcohol burned Mitch’s eyes and soaked through the front of his shirt, he couldn’t help but think, what a terrible waste of the club’s finest whiskey.

Gasps of surprise filled the silence as Lance stormed from the dining room. Mitch grabbed a linen napkin from the table and wiped his face. With all eyes on him now—most of them friends, neighbors or business associates—he jumped up from his chair and followed his brother to the crowded main lobby, calling, “Lance, wait! I can explain!”

He caught up with him just outside the dining room door. To anyone watching, Lance appeared enraged. “Explain? What sort of man seduces his brother’s fiancée?”

Mitch heard gasps from the crowd.

“We didn’t mean for it to happen,” he said, finding it ironic that if Lance had discovered the truth, Mitch probably would have been saying the same thing. Although it would have been a lie. Lexi had admitted to using him to rob her husband of her virginity. Seems the joke was on both of them.

“As far as I’m concerned, you and Lexi deserve each other,” Lance spat, and turned to leave. Just as they had choreographed, Mitch grabbed his arm.

The fist came at him so swiftly that, had he not expected it, he wouldn’t have had time to duck. As it was, Mitch could only stand there defenseless as Lance’s fist connected squarely with his jaw. The blow knocked him backward several feet. He lost his balance and ended up on his ass on the unforgiving marble floor.

Lance shot him one last seething look, then shouldered his way out the door. Mitch’s behind ached something special, his jaw stung like a mother and his pride had taken a hit, but the reaction from the patrons told him it had all been worth it. A steady buzz of voices hummed through the lobby and at least half a dozen people were jabbering excitedly into their cell phones. He gave it an hour before the entire population of Maverick County heard the news.

Mitch swiped a hand across the corner of his mouth and came back with a smear of blood. Two employees appeared at either side to help him to his feet, and the hostess handed him a napkin to stop the bleeding.

“I’m all right,” he mumbled, shrugging away from their help as though humiliated and distraught. From outside, he heard the squeal of tires and knew Lance was peeling out of the lot, putting the finishing touches on their little charade. And what a show it had been.

He just hoped it was worth it.