Читать книгу Brides, Babies And Billionaires - Мишель Смарт, Rebecca Winters - Страница 96

Fifteen

“Katie, my girl,” Harold Zanger said, striding out of his office and snapping his suspenders. “How are you getting on this fine day?”

Kate patted her ever-growing stomach. “Fine,” she said with a smile as Harold beamed. She left out the part where she had to pee every seven minutes and her back hurt. According to the doctor, things were going perfectly. She only had another three months to go.

“Is that Mr. Bolton of yours going to be coming around?” Harold asked the question in a too-casual manner.

But Kate didn’t miss the yours in that question. “I don’t think it’s physically possible for him to buy any more real estate,” she said, dodging the question.

Seth was not hers. In fact, with Christmas weeks away, he was less hers every single day.

They hadn’t talked about it, but she knew he was leaving soon. And she knew it was selfish, but she didn’t want him to go. The last three months with him had been the best three months of her life.

Harold gave her a kindly look. “He’s done all right by you, hasn’t he?”

Kate looked away. “He has. But then,” she said, forcing a smile to her lips, “so have you.”

Harold patted her on the shoulder. “You’re a sweet girl, Katie. You deserve better.” Tears stung in her eyes as Harold gave her shoulder a squeeze and then turned away, politely pretending she wasn’t about to cry. “I’m off to show some houses today,” he announced loudly, giving his suspenders another snap just for good measure. “You’ll hold down the fort?”

“Of course,” she said, smiling through it all.

Seth had done right by her. Thanks to the purchase of the house—which still had next to no furniture in it—and the industrial property, she was able to plan to take six months off with her little girl, whom she’d decided to name Madeleine.

More than that, he had given her back her sexuality. Kate hadn’t even realized what she’d been missing until Seth had come into her life. But now? She wouldn’t settle for anything less. He had built her up instead of wearing her down, and never again would she go along just to get along.

Seth was leaving and she was going to let him go. It would be selfish to hold him here, but God, she was going to miss the hell out of him.

She was lost in these thoughts and others—what should she get him for Christmas?—when the chimes over the door jingled. “It’s a zinger of a day at Zanger, how may I...” She looked up to see a familiar figure standing in the doorway. Her stomach curdled because she recognized that man—and it wasn’t Seth.

“Roger?” What the hell was he doing here?

He looked like hell. Oh, he still looked good. His hair was combed, his face cleanly shaven, his suit nicely pressed. But as he stepped into the office, Kate could see the shadows under his bloodshot eyes. He looked like he hadn’t slept in a week, maybe longer. “Kate,” he said, and then stopped when she stood up. His eyes widened. “God, you look so...”

She didn’t know if it was anger or adrenaline—she hadn’t seen him in months. Not since he’d agreed to pay child support but promised that he’d never have anything to do with her daughter. “Pregnant?” she finished before he could say something crass. “Yes. I’m pregnant. I told you that, remember?”

He didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed at coming within a hairbreadth of insulting her. “Yeah, I know. I just didn’t...” He waved a hand in her general direction.

She blinked at him. “If you’re implying that I was lying about being pregnant—”

“No, no. I believe you. You just look...”

How had she ever thought she could love this man? It’d been a crappy lie that she had forced herself to buy into because, for some reason she still didn’t understand, her dad liked this man. Maybe it was because Roger and her father were too much alike. And Kate did exactly what her mother had done—shut up and went along with what her father wanted.

Well, no more. Seth had spent months telling her how gorgeous she was, how beautiful she looked—even as she got huge. She was carrying Roger’s daughter and all he could think about was that she’d gotten fat.

He could go to hell.

“Did you have a reason for being here or did you just feel like insulting the mother of your unborn child?”

Roger recoiled.

“And I swear to God, Roger, if you ask if I’m sure it’s your child, I will not be held responsible for my actions.”

“Jeez, Kate—calm down. I didn’t come here to pick a fight.”

When, in the history of womankind, had telling a woman to “calm down” ever worked? Because it sure as hell didn’t now. “Then why are you here?”

He scrubbed at the back of his neck. “Listen, I’ve been thinking—that kid’s not even born yet. You’re not going to need any child support for what, another year or so?”

Good Lord, just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. “What are you talking about?”

“I heard you had a few big sales,” he went on, completely missing the horrified shock in her voice. “To Bolton, of all people. I would’ve thought he’d come to me if he needed something—we’re friends.”

Liar, Kate thought. She’d been spending nearly every waking moment with Seth for the last several months and not once had Roger made an effort to talk to either of them.

She didn’t say that, though. Instead, she focused on what Roger was really saying. “Yes, I sold some property. I happen to be a real estate agent. What’s it to you?”

“You don’t have to get all upset,” he said, his eyes darting around the office. “I’m just saying, it would probably be best if we delayed the child support payments for a little while. That’s all.”

“Best for who?” Roger tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace. “Roger, what the hell is going on? I’m pregnant and you rolled in here to insult my appearance and try to get out of your financial obligations to a child you helped create?”

“Hey, I didn’t ask you to get pregnant.”

“News flash, I didn’t ask to get pregnant. It was an accident, but if you’re going to act like I did this all by myself, I’m going to have to explain some basic biology to you. What do you want?”

The silence was awkward, but she debated whether or not she needed backup. How fast could Seth get here?

“See,” Roger began, and she heard the whine in his voice that made it clear that he hadn’t gotten his way with something, “there were some investments that didn’t pan out and business has been slow and...”

“And you’re suddenly broke?” she supplied.

“Broke is a strong word. But there have been some cash flow difficulties.”

She mentally translated those passive statements. Why hadn’t she ever noticed that when Roger screwed up he never owned his mistakes? “You lost all your money, didn’t you? What’s the matter, my dad cut you off?”

That grimace again. Roger looked like a cornered animal trying to bluff its way out of a dangerous situation. “Look, are you going to help me out or not?”

The nerve of this man. And to think, she might’ve been stuck with him. “You want me to help you out by releasing you from your financial obligations to your own child for an indeterminate amount of time because you made some unwise investment choices and you don’t have me to bail you out—am I getting all of this right?”

Finally, he looked ashamed of himself. As well he should. “I wouldn’t put it quite like that. We could get married, you know.”

She almost gagged. “No,” she said with as much force as she could. “I don’t have to take your crap, Roger. I don’t love you. You never loved me. And if you try to bail on child support, I will sue you back to the Stone Age.”

“Come on, Kate—”

“No,” she repeated again. “You kept the house. You kept the wedding gifts. You went on the honeymoon without me. What do I get? Child support. I had to rely on a family friend to give me a job. You gave me nothing, Roger. You are legally obligated to provide for your child. And I will hold you to it. There’s nothing else I want from you.”

He jerked as if she had slapped him. “When did you get so bitchy?”

Oh, that just did it. “Get out. I’m not your doormat anymore.”

“But—”

“Now,” she repeated, putting as much menace as she could into her voice.

The jerk had the nerve to just stand there and stare, his mouth open in shock.

She was reaching for her phone when the door behind him jingled and suddenly, there was Seth Bolton, stepping around Roger and putting himself in between that jerk and Kate. “Roger,” he said, his voice cool. He looked back at Kate. “Everything okay here?”

“Yes,” Kate said before Roger could attempt to turn on the charm—not that Seth would fall for it. “Roger was just leaving, after renewing his commitment to paying child support.” She left the or else hanging invisibly in the air.

Roger was an idiot, but not such a great idiot that he was going to argue with her in front of an audience. “We can talk later,” he said in a conciliatory tone.

“No,” she said, standing up as straight as her belly would allow. “We can’t.”

“Let me see you out,” Seth said, almost—but not quite—sounding friendly. He crowded Roger toward the door and opened it, waiting.

Roger’s shoulders slumped in defeat. He looked back at Kate and said, “You look great, you know.”

There was a time when Kate would have clung to that halfhearted compliment as proof that Roger did care for her, that she was doing the right thing staying with him. Now?

Too little, too late. She did not return the compliment.

Roger opened his mouth as if he were going to say something else, but Seth cleared his throat. It was the most menacing sound Kate had heard come out of him yet.

Then the men were outside and Kate half wanted Seth to take a swing at Roger and half just wanted the idiot to go away.

She was going to have to take Roger to court—that much was obvious. Lawyers were going to be expensive, but she wasn’t going to let him weasel his way out of this.

She sank down in her desk chair and dropped her head into her hands. He hadn’t even asked if she was going to have a boy or girl. Why was she surprised? She wasn’t, really. Of course Roger was going to disappoint her. He really didn’t care. Not about the baby, not about her.

The door jingled again and there was Seth, shutting it firmly behind him. “He’s gone,” he said, looking at her with open concern. “Are you all right?”

Kate’s throat was thick with emotion—damned hormones. “I stood up to him,” she said around the lump in her throat. “He doesn’t want to pay child support and I told him I’d sue him if I had to. God, what a hassle.”

Seth grinned at that. He glanced back at Harold’s dark office and then came around her desk, pulling her up into his arms. “You were amazing,” he agreed. Rubbing her back in just the right place. “I wish I could’ve seen the whole thing.”

She was crying—but she was also laughing. “Oh, you would’ve hit him. I would’ve liked to have seen that.” Seth leaned back and stroked her tears away. She loved that her random bouts of hormones didn’t freak him out. “I can’t believe I almost married him.”

He cradled her face. “I’m so glad you didn’t.”

Kate almost lost herself in the tenderness of the moment. No—she couldn’t fall for Seth all over again. “Did he say anything to you outside?”

Seth snorted. “He seemed hurt that I hadn’t used him for my real estate agent.”

“Lord.”

Seth hugged her tighter, and she sank into his warmth. He was always here when she needed him, lending her his strength. Without him, she might have buckled and agreed to marry Roger. She might have let Roger out of his financial obligations.

She would’ve been miserable. But she wasn’t. Upset, yes. Pregnant, definitely. But she’d refused to roll over to make someone else happy. Seth had shown her she could fight for what she wanted and for that, she would love him forever.

He stepped all the way around her and began to knead his thumbs into her lower back. God, it felt so good. “What are you doing here?”

“I needed to see you,” he said, sending a thrill through her. Then, after a long pause while he worked on a particularly sore spot, he added, “We finalized the plan for the Shanghai showroom.”

All of her good feelings disappeared in a heartbeat. Because this was it—the end. “Oh?” she got out in a strangled-sounding voice.

“Yeah.” Kate couldn’t tell if it was a consolation or not that he sounded almost as depressed as she felt. “Best-case scenario is Shanghai for six months, but it’ll probably be closer to ten, maybe even twelve.”

She shut her eyes, although that didn’t change things. “That’s great,” she lied, because his job was important to him. His family was important to him, and she could not allow him to damage those relationships for her.

“Yeah,” he said again, sounding positively morose about it. “It’s going to be really exciting. I’ll leave on the second.”

They were down to days at this point. Sixteen days. And then he would be gone from her life and she would still be here, arguing with Roger and trying to do the best she could with what she had.

Suddenly, she couldn’t bear it. She turned, throwing her arms around his neck. “I wish I could go with you.”

His hands cradled her belly. “I couldn’t ask it of you. I wish I could stay.”

She shook her head against his shoulder. “I couldn’t ask it of you, either.”

He pulled a small box out of his pocket. “I got this for you.”

She stared at the Christmas wrapping. She didn’t want to open it—didn’t want to accept the fact that the best thing that had ever happened to her was winding down to its natural conclusion. “Thank you. I haven’t had time to get you a present yet.”

“I don’t...” He pulled her back into his arms and held her for a long moment. Then, almost by unspoken agreement, they both pulled back. Lingering would do no one any good. “Promise me,” he said, taking her hands and staring down into her eyes. “Promise me you’ll take care of yourself and Madeleine. Promise me you won’t...” He swallowed, his eyes suspiciously bright. “Don’t wait for me, Kate. There’s a great guy out there who is going to be really lucky to have you and I don’t want you to pass him up.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” she said, hiccupping. She was almost seven months pregnant. The number of men who would look at her and see anything but baggage could probably be counted on one hand.

In fact, there might only be one of them. Standing right in front of her.

“If you need anything,” he went on, ridiculous or not, “you call my parents. My mom’s an expert about single moms with new babies. Okay?”

“Seth—”

“Promise me, Kate,” he insisted, squeezing her hands.

All good things came to an end. And that was what this was. The end. “I promise.”

She’d never realized how much that sounded like goodbye.