“It’s a business deal.”

And apparently the conditions and facts and figures were laid out for him on her laptop.

Even when she got all prim and proper on him, Aidan wanted her.

And now that he’d given himself permission to want her, he couldn’t seem to stop. If listening to her presentation meant having her in his bed, he would get through this.

But as she went through her slides, he had to interrupt. “Only at night? What about mornings? Or lunchtime? We could use my conference table…The thing is, I don’t think we should be too rigid about this. In fact…”

He slipped his arm around her and walked her to the couch. “I think it’ll take a lot of pressure off you if we start practicing right away.”

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author KATE CARLISLE was born and raised by the beach in Southern California. After more than twenty years in television production, Kate turned to writing the types of mysteries and romance novels she always loved to read. She still lives by the beach in Southern California with her husband, and when they’re not taking long walks in the sand or cooking or reading or painting or taking bookbinding classes or trying to learn a new language, they’re traveling the world, visiting family and friends in the strangest places. Kate loves to hear from readers. Visit her website at www.katecarlisle.com.

She’s Having
the Boss’s Baby
Kate Carlisle

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This book is fondly dedicated to my smart and talented friend Jurene Hogan, one of the great romance readers of the world.

One

“What else can go wrong today?”

Aidan Sutherland stared at the latest cryptic email from his foreman on the nearby construction site and swore. Usually, Aidan let stuff like this slide right off him. Despite his power and wealth, he prided himself on his easygoing nature and smooth ability to roll with the punches. It wasn’t like him to complain or whine about an unexpected setback.

But this latest problem was number fifty-seven in a whole list of complications and snafus that had cropped up today. And hell, it wasn’t even lunchtime. Enough was enough.

He read the foreman’s message over again and confirmed that as far as problems went, this one wasn’t too earth shattering. Aidan would need to get it taken care of within twenty-four hours though, so he would have to re-prioritize a few agenda items and shift some man power, and the issue would be solved. No sweat.

“So why am I sweating it?” Irritated with himself, he shoved his chair back from his desk, stood and crossed the wide expanse of his penthouse office suite to the wall of windows. As he stared out at the lavish grounds of the gorgeous Alleria Resort that spread out in all directions, his irritation slowly dissolved and satisfaction rose up in its place.

With a quiet laugh, Aidan thought back to the days when this island paradise had been little more than a pipe dream. As youngsters, he and his twin brother, Logan, had plotted and dreamed of becoming like one of their comic book superheroes. Iron Man, maybe, or Batman, with wealth and power beyond imagination. If they could wangle a superhero talent like X-ray vision, that would be a bonus. But above all, their imaginary scheme involved amassing a vast empire, and for two California kids who were swimming before they could walk, what would better serve as their empire headquarters than a remote tropical island? They would conduct business from a couple of hammocks under a shady coconut palm tree.

Aidan watched as a catamaran set sail from the marina below. He and Logan had pretty much achieved the dream—although their hammock and palm tree headquarters had been traded in for several large suites at the Alleria Resort Hotel. Not bad for two working-class guys who’d spent much of their youth surfing and partying.

For several of those years, the brothers had been lucky enough to sweep most of the surfing competitions they’d taken part in. They’d managed to collect enough prize money to finally fulfill the promise they’d made to their father years before. More than anything else, Dad had wanted them both to go to college.

No one was more surprised than Aidan and Logan when they were accepted to one of the most elite universities on the East Coast. While there, as legend had it, they’d won the deed to their first bar in a fraternity poker game.

Aidan and Logan had also excelled in all their classes, graduated with highest honors, and gone on to collect MBA degrees. But those dry facts had little or no entertainment value, so these days, most business magazine articles featuring the Sutherland brothers chose to highlight their misspent youth by recounting sordid tales of surfing, gambling and partying.

Aidan and his brother didn’t really care what the articles claimed. The truth was that they had succeeded beyond their wildest dreams through a capricious combination of business acumen, poker winnings, surfing philosophy, sweat and hard work. Added to all that was some good timing and a hell of a lot of dumb luck, and the result was the present-day empire known as Sutherland Corporation. Now their lavish bars and exclusive resorts could be found in every part of the world, including their very own island, Alleria.

They were living the dream.

The Alleria Resort had become the number-one destination for discerning travelers the world over. It also doubled as the headquarters of Sutherland Corporation. And thanks to the brothers’ stewardship, the entire island of Alleria was now a bustling, thriving port of call in the Caribbean.

Aidan returned to his desk and grabbed his coffee mug. While he refilled it from the coffeemaker on the sideboard, he thought about his twin brother. Logan was currently in Europe on his honeymoon with his bride, Grace.

“That’s why everything’s been going wrong lately,” he realized aloud. “Too many weddings.”

Once the happy couple returned, things would get back to normal around here, Aidan thought. Well, not right away, he amended. Because speaking of weddings, his own father would be taking the plunge soon, too. Aidan shook his head. As if he wasn’t already surrounded by enough blissful lovebirds to mess up his mojo for years to come!

He couldn’t begrudge Dad and his beloved Sally their nuptials, though. The two had found each other after years of living alone, so Aidan was happy for them. Still, all of his problems had seemed to start around the same time that everyone began to get happy and fall in love.

Dad and Sally had decided to conduct the ceremony right here on Alleria next month, so that was one more item that needed to be coordinated. In the meantime, Aidan was scheduled to fly to California this coming weekend to take care of some legal business that had to be finalized before Dad married Sally Duke.

“Damn.” He’d forgotten to get started on those documents for his father. What the hell? It wasn’t like Aidan to forget something like that. Was he losing his grip? Hell no, but he had lost his secretary. She’d abandoned him to marriage, too. Just when he’d needed her most, his trusted ally had fallen in love and gone off to Jamaica to marry her sweetheart. Why did the woman have to quit the same week Logan left town?

At the risk of repeating himself, what was the deal with all these weddings lately?

All that creeping happiness had begun to close in on him and he was pretty certain it had caused the balance of nature to shift. The end result was that Aidan kept forgeting stuff. It made an odd sort of sense, really. Aidan would never in a million years have anything to do with the state of matrimony himself, and yet here he was, surrounded by weddings. It was downright bizarre. No wonder Aidan had taken his eye off the ball. Everything in his carefully organized world was going up in smoke lately.

He pulled out his smartphone and compared his electronic calendar with the written schedule he kept on his desk, checking to see if anything else had fallen by the wayside lately. Ordinarily, he was on top of every single detail of Sutherland Corporation business, but as he checked his calendar, he noted that since Logan’s wedding a week ago, he’d allowed a few things to drift. They wouldn’t cause any major problems, but that didn’t excuse his forgetfulness.

The Erickson deal, he noted, would have to be handled within the next three weeks. With Logan away on his honeymoon, Aidan decided to hand the project off to Ellie. He’d been doing that a lot lately, he admitted to himself, but only because he was knee deep in other plans and strategy involving the boutique hotel the Duke brothers were about to break ground on a few miles away on the north shore of the island. The Dukes were his cousins and were experts at negotiating with the unions, but they weren’t here on the island. Not yet, anyway.

And frankly, Ellie would handle the deal better. While there were no better negotiators on earth than Aidan and Logan, Ellie brought an extra touch of nuance to any discussion. She could handle Erickson, the union bosses and the Dukes with no problem, he thought. Not that he would pile all that on her, but the fact was, if she was in charge, they’d get done. Clearly, with all that was going on, Aidan had to admit he couldn’t depend entirely on his own memory right now.

As a rule, Aidan thrived on meticulous attention to detail. And didn’t that sound like he walked around with a giant stick up his ass? He didn’t. He was cool, calm and laid-back at all times, damn it. An easygoing guy. But he still expected things to run smoothly and he paid his well organized team a lot of money to make sure they always did.

“Knock, knock.”

“What?” he demanded, whipping around to glare at whoever was here to aggravate him.

“Ooh, not a good time?”

“Ellie.” Aidan relaxed instantly at the sight of Eleanor Sterling, his senior vice president, standing at his office door. “Come in. Sorry I barked at you.”

“Something not going smoothly?”

“Nothing that can’t be fixed,” he said. “A little mix-up over at the construction site, but we’ll work it out. In fact, you’re just the person I wanted to talk to about it. But you go first. What’s on your mind?”

“I have a list of things to go over with you,” she said, holding up the small, sleek computer tablet that was never out of her sight.

“Of course you do,” he murmured, chuckling. When had their super-efficient, proactive, forward-thinking senior vice president ever not had a list?

Even when his world was tipping crazily out of balance, he could count on Ellie to be exactly who she was. His ruthlessly organized, efficient right-hand man. Woman. Person.

Ellie approached his desk and Aidan’s breath got caught somewhere in his throat as he watched her plant herself in the chair opposite him and cross her stunning long legs.

Damn. He turned away to stare at…something else. This had been happening a lot lately and it was one more thing he could blame on all that wedding madness. Or it would be, if it weren’t for the fact that he’d been ogling his business associate’s legs for a long time now. Every time she came near him lately, he was ready to pounce like a jungle cat. And who could blame him? The woman had world-class legs. And a world-class smile. He was pretty sure she had world-class breasts, as well, but that was none of his business. She had a gorgeous smile and beautiful lips. Clear blue eyes, an adorable nose and lush dark hair that she wore in a straight style that fell like a thick ribbon halfway down her back.

Was this attraction to Ellie one more example of the sneaky universe conspiring to ruin his life? Was there such a thing as orange-blossom poisoning? Had he overdosed on weddings? Absolutely. That’s all this was. Too much romance and talk of happy ever after. So of course he’d been noticing Ellie’s legs lately. He’d have been blind not to.

There, a perfectly reasonable explanation. He felt better. Except for the knot of need in his stomach and the more visible sign of his desire that he fought to suppress before she noticed and ran screaming from his office.

After a long moment, he turned and gave her a nonchalant smile, as if he hadn’t been picturing her naked in his bed seconds ago. But hell, a jury of his peers would never blame him for having those thoughts. She was wearing a dress in some cheery, summery color that was sleeveless and short and contoured to fit her well-endowed body perfectly. When had she started dressing so…Hmm. Had she always been this sexy and he just hadn’t noticed until recently? Damn. Might be time to get his eyes checked, after all.

Whatever, that dress showed off her smooth, lightly tanned arms and her aforementioned awesomely hot legs.

And now that he thought about it, he realized Ellie rarely wore dresses, preferring lightweight tailored suits and what Aidan referred to as “sensible” shoes. But the weather had turned even warmer than usual lately and they did live and work on a tropical island, after all. That might explain those three-inch-high strappy sandals she wore that gave even more definition to her attractively toned legs.

He mentally kicked his ass. Thinking of his senior VP like this was completely unacceptable. The woman brought incredible resourcefulness and negotiating talent to the company. Not sex. Not ever. End of story.

He blamed his wayward thoughts on the fact that he hadn’t been out with a woman in…How long had it been? Didn’t matter. Ellie was off-limits. He reeled in his urges, sat down at his desk and smiled tightly at Ellie. “So what can I do to you?”

“Excuse me?” she said.

“I mean, do for you?” Good grief. “Sorry, I’m a little distracted by that, uh, union issue I mentioned. So what’s on your list?”

As she studied the tablet screen, she wriggled in her chair, uncrossed and re-crossed her legs. Aidan was captivated by the movement and wondered if she would mind if he pulled her onto his desk and began to lick every inch of her legs, starting with her ankles and moving up to her—

“Number one on the agenda has to do with the new sports center,” Ellie said. “The Paragon contracts are printed and ready to sign.”

With his jaw clenched, Aidan forced the sultry image away and shook himself back to attention. Now what was she saying? Oh, yeah. Paragon was the vendor that would be supplying the center with everything from workers’ uniforms to gym towels to drinking cups. Aidan and Logan were old surfing buddies with Keith Sands, the Paragon CEO, and knew him well.

“Good,” Aidan said. “Let’s overnight them to Keith and get that wrapped up.”

“Done.” She tapped out a message on her screen keyboard, then nibbled on her bottom lip as she studied the screen. Aidan tortured himself by watching her luscious mouth in action and wondered if maybe he needed to take a cold shower.

As he dragged his gaze away, he vowed to find himself a date while visiting California over the weekend. It had been too long since he’d indulged in some good old-fashioned, no-strings-attached sex. That had to be another reason why he was so distracted by Ellie’s excellent body, but he had to snap out of it. There was no way he would allow the oneway attraction to grow. Otherwise, he would never shake off this funk. “What’s next?”

She pressed the tablet’s surface and a new screen appeared. Glancing up, she said, “As you know, the new hotel is on track to break ground in two weeks.”

“Right. But there’s a holdup with the cement mixer company.”

“Yes, I spoke to them,” Ellie said. “I think we’ve worked it out. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Thanks, I appreciate you taking on that issue. Next agenda item?” Aidan asked.

“Right. This one’s a little tricky.” She shook her hair back and took a deep breath. “I’m overdue for some time off and I’m sorry for the short notice, but I have to take three weeks off next month, from the second to the twenty-third.” She checked her tablet. “I’ve arranged coverage for all of my assignments so there shouldn’t be any problems.”

Before Aidan could say a word, Ellie rushed on to the next item on her list. “Now this is good news, but I’ll need you to approve it. The hotel’s limousine service will upgrade their entire fleet six weeks from now. I’ve worked out a deal with a company over on St. Bart’s to buy the old cars, but we’ll need to ship them there by freighter. They’re willing to split the freight cost, but I’d rather we be the ones to arrange everything. There’s a new Danish shipping company based in Nassau that can do it, but I’ll have to let them know fairly soon if we’re interested in using them.”

“Send me their info and I’ll get back to you.” He held up his finger to stop her from continuing. “But…let’s go back to that last item you mentioned.”

“The cement mixer?” she asked, her eyes wide and curious.

He didn’t believe that wide-eyed innocent act for a second. “No, Ellie. Your vacation. Three weeks?”

“Yes, but don’t worry. I don’t leave until next month.”

He grabbed his calendar and calculated the dates. “We’re practically at the end of this month. So next month starts next week. You want to leave a week from tomorrow?”

“Yes. Something important just came up. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more notice, but it’s urgent that I go.”

He frowned at the calendar. “A week from tomorrow?”

“Yes, a week from tomorrow.” She said the words slowly, as though she was speaking to a recalcitrant kindergartner.

“That’s really short notice.”

“I know, Aidan. But I have an important appointment scheduled and the timing is crucial. I have to leave a week from tomorrow.”

His eyes widened. “Is something wrong, Ellie? Are you sick?”

“No!” she said at once. “No, I’m fine. But this can’t be put off.”

“I’m glad it’s nothing health-related.” He flipped through the week-at-a-glance calendar. “But can’t we talk about this? I really need you on the job over the next month or so. You know I’m about to leave for a long weekend. And Logan won’t be back for two more weeks. The Erickson deal needs immediate attention, the Duke project needs supervision, and I’ve got a dozen new secretary applicants I was hoping you’d help me interview. I hate to be hard-nosed about this, but it’s really a bad time for you to be gone.”

“No, it’s not. I’ve worked out the—”

“Wait,” he said, ignoring her as he tapped the calendar page. “The cardboard-box convention is right in the middle of that time period. That’s your client. Those guys love you. You can’t desert them.”

“I’m not. I’m leaving them in good hands. They love our sales staff.”

“It’s not the same,” he said, grasping at excuses. Damn it, he was already without his secretary. How the hell could he keep this place running without Ellie, as well? “You know you have a knack with the conventioneers.” He peered at her. What was this sudden vacation all about? Was she planning to meet up with some man? Aidan wasn’t sure he liked the idea, not that he had any say in the matter. Of course, that had never stopped him from issuing an opinion. “What’s so important that you need to go next week?”

She gazed back at him steadily. “It’s personal.”

“You can tell me. We’re friends.”

“You’re my boss.”

“And your friend.”

She smiled. “Trust me, Aidan. You don’t want to know.”

He folded his hands together on his desk and smiled patiently. “Now that’s where you’re wrong. What can possibly be so important that you can only give one week’s notice and then go off and leave us for three long weeks? We need you here.”

“I appreciate that, but I’m entitled to a vacation.”

“Of course you are,” he said, wondering why he was being so inflexible about this. She was their best employee. Employee? Hell, she was practically a partner in the business. Of course she was entitled to take time off. He just didn’t want her to leave right now while things were in flux. It was bad enough he didn’t have a secretary. But to lose his right-hand man—er, woman—for three weeks? He didn’t want to think of the many things that could go wrong. “We have two major construction projects going, there are union issues, my brother is out of the country, I’m going to have to travel, as well. You know we depend on you to keep everything running smoothly.”

“But—”

“It’s not about whether you deserve the time off,” he rushed to add. “It’s just that, hell, you’re always so organized. You plan your vacation time a year in advance. What happened?”

“Something came up,” she said primly.

“Damn it, Ellie. What in the world is so important that you’d leave five hundred convention attendees in the lurch?” Not to mention me, he didn’t say aloud.

She let go an exasperated sigh, then said, “Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She bounded out of her chair and paced back and forth in front of his desk. Suddenly she stopped and said in a rush, “I have an appointment with a fertility clinic in Atlanta. The timing is critical because everything depends on my ovulation cycle. Once I arrive in Atlanta, the clinic advised that I’ll need two days of complete rest to get over any jet lag my ovaries might suffer. Then it’ll take a week to go through their process, and that’s followed up with two weeks of, well, rest and waiting.”

Aidan’s eyes widened. He shook his head. Had his ears plugged up suddenly? He couldn’t have heard what he thought he’d just heard. Ovaries? Good grief. Fertility?

He glared at her. “What in the world are you talking about?”

Wearing a serene smile now, Ellie sat back down in her chair. “I’m going to have a baby.”

There. She had finally said it out loud.

Ellie tried to appear calm, tried not to squirm in her chair as Aidan stared sharply at her. Well, it was his own darn fault for pushing the point, she thought. Honestly, she had tried to soft-peddle her vacation plans, tried to avoid explaining all the gory details, but she should’ve known Aidan Sutherland wouldn’t let things slide. He never let things slide.

Yes, she usually planned her vacations a year ahead of time. Yes, she was highly organized, detail oriented, never impulsive, always in control. She didn’t do anything without preparing a spreadsheet first. But come on, once in a while a girl had to be spontaneous. That’s what she’d heard, anyway. Ellie was pretty sure she’d never been spontaneous in her life. Until now.

She watched Aidan’s gaze narrow in on her. He turned his head slightly and leaned forward, almost as though he’d experienced a hearing loss. “Say that again?”

Ellie sighed. She and Aidan had a fabulous working relationship. She thought of him as her best friend at work, even though he was her boss. And even though he was rugged and gregarious, athletic and tanned. And gorgeous. Handsome. Downright sexy. But she was getting off track.

The fact was, she’d liked Aidan from the first day she started her job at Sutherland Corp. The two of them shared a lot of the same interests and as business associates, they’d traveled together on dozens of occasions. Together they had closed numerous deals and even a bar or two when the negotiations turned out to be rougher than they should have been.

It didn’t help that she had developed a ridiculous schoolgirl crush on Aidan shortly after she started working with him. It didn’t matter though, because she would never do anything so stupid as to act on her feelings. Not only would it destroy their relationship and mark the end of the best job she’d ever had, but it would make her feel like the world’s biggest fool. Ellie had never been a fool.

She knew Aidan’s question was coming from a decent place inside him, and she had already decided to be completely honest with him if he forced the issue, so she repeated, “I said, I’m going to have a baby.”

“Next week?”

“Next week is when the process starts.”

“You can’t put it off an extra week?”

“No,” she said, fighting to maintain her calm. “I’m usually as regular as clockwork so once I get to Atlanta, I’ve allowed myself a three-day window during which I should start ovula—”

“Stop.” He held up his hand. “We’re venturing back into the dark realm of too much female information.”

“But you keep asking.”

“I just want to know why you have to do all this starting next week.”

“Because I want to have a baby and I’m not getting any younger.” She had no intention of telling him anything more than that.

“But—” He scratched his head, clearly confused. “You’re going to a sperm bank.”

“I prefer the term fertility clinic. But yes, that’s where I’m going.”

“But why?”

“Why?” she said, her voice rising as her serenity tottered on the edge of annoyance. “Seriously, Aidan? You want to know why I’m going to a sperm bank—I mean, fertility clinic? I’ll go out on a limb here and take a guess that you are aware of what happens in those places.”

He huffed impatiently. “Of course. But what I mean is, why don’t you just do it the old-fashioned way?”

“Oh,” she said slowly. “That.”

“Yeah.” He folded his arms across his chest. “That.”

“Well, it’s because…Hmm.” What was she supposed to tell him? The truth? Because the truth was that she would have preferred to get pregnant the old-fashioned way. With a man she loved, someone wonderful who wanted to live the rest of his life with her.

Recently there had been one man who’d expressed some interest in her. She had dated him for a few weeks, but as soon as Ellie brought up the subject of children and family, he’d made himself scarce. That was before they’d even had sex so she’d missed out on that, too. She just couldn’t get a break.

Even though there were plenty of opportunities to meet eligible men on the island, none of them ever seemed to want to take the next step. One problem was that most men came to Alleria to party-party-party. They weren’t interested in a relationship if it looked like it might last more than a week.

The other problem was that while Ellie knew men thought she was pretty enough, she also knew they found her a little intimidating. And even though she recognized the problem, she didn’t know what to do about it. It wasn’t that she had an overpowering personality. That would’ve been an easy fix. No, Ellie’s problem was that she was just too smart. She couldn’t help it. She seemed to have a photographic memory and she loved learning new things. She retained information and was cheerfully willing to share it with others any time a subject came up. Some people didn’t take that well.

And sadly, Ellie didn’t have a clue when to keep her mouth shut and let a guy live with the illusion that he was smarter than she was. Men were so odd.

These days, though, Ellie refused to allow that to bother her. Happily, Aidan and his brother appreciated how smart she was and she loved her job because of it. They accepted her and needed her, and that meant a lot more to Ellie than having a man in her life who might cause her to lose too much of herself.

But meanwhile, without a man in her life, there was no one who was willing to make a baby with her.

So after a lot of studying the pros and cons and debating it with herself, she had decided to use artificial insemination to achieve her goal of motherhood.

She was secure in her job and very well compensated. She also had an excellent benefits package, so the idea of raising her child on her own was a reasonable one. She was also lucky to have developed strong friendships with several women on the island, too, and knew they would always be around when she needed them. So she wasn’t worried. She and her baby would comprise the perfect little family she had always wanted. Now she just needed some time off to get the job done.

“Ellie, are you going to tell me why you can’t just do it the—”

“Yes, yes, the old-fashioned way.” She sniffed, straightened her shoulders and held her head high. “I don’t think it’s any of your business.”

“You’re probably right.” His lips twisted in a sardonic grin. “But you’ve already given me your ovulation schedule. I mean, why hold back the rest?”

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Ellie said. “Look, we both know that what I do in my free time is nobody’s business but my own.”

“Of course it is,” he said reasonably. “But you have to realize how concerned I am. As I’ve already said, I’m your friend as well as your employer, and this isn’t exactly a vacation you’re taking. You’re planning to go off to get pregnant. And then what happens? Then you’ll come back and work? For how long?”

“Until the baby’s born,” she said immediately. “At that point I’ll take maternity leave for three months and then I’ll be back at work.”

The resort had an excellent childcare facility so Ellie wasn’t worried about finding someone to care for her baby while she worked. That was another benefit of working for the Sutherland brothers.

“Three months.” Aidan pushed away from the desk and stood to pace the floor for a full minute. Finally he looked at her. “Okay, I’m not going to think about your being gone for three months. We’ll just deal with these upcoming three weeks.”

“That might be best,” she murmured.

“I can’t stand in the way of you going, but what will we do without you for three weeks? It might not sound like a lot of time to you, but we’ve never gone that long without you before. And right now we’re swamped with work and no one else is qualified to fill your shoes.”

She smiled because she’d already made a point of finding solutions to those particular problems, thanks to her best friend, Serena, the catering manager.

“Serena and her secretary have agreed to assist the sales force with the convention work. And my secretary will take care of making sure the day-to-day office work gets done. I’ll be available by phone if there are any questions.”

“Damn, Ellie.”

She stood and met him face-to-face. “Look, Aidan. I wouldn’t leave if there was a doctor on the island who specialized in fertilization. But there isn’t, so I’m going to Atlanta.”

“But what if you go through all this and it doesn’t…” He seemed to weigh his words and decided not to finish that sentence. Probably smart of him.

She finished the thought for him. “What if the procedure doesn’t work?” She’d considered that possibility, too. “I’ll try again in a few months.”

He gritted his teeth. “Okay, I understand what you want to do and it’s not like I have a say in your decision, but I still think you’re jumping the gun here. You’re so young. What are you? Twenty-eight? Twenty-nine?”

“Thirty.”

“That’s young,” he insisted. “You still have plenty of time to do it the—”

“Yes, yes, the old-fashioned way. You’ve mentioned it several times already.”

“It bears repeating,” he said amiably.

She quickly looked down at her tablet to avoid his knowing gaze. Was it getting hot in here? All this conversation about babies and “doing it the old-fashioned way” was stirring up feelings for Aidan that she’d long ago squelched. And not just emotional feelings, but an actual physical attraction to him. And that had to stop right now. “You realize this is absolutely none of your business, right?”

He had the nerve to grin. “Yeah.”

She sighed again. “Look, even if I do have plenty of time, I don’t have a partner. You know, someone who’s interested in providing the necessary equipment to get the job done.”

Could she make it any clearer than that?

“Oh. Right.” Aidan seemed to ponder that for a moment. “But what about that guy you were dating? Aren’t you still seeing him? What’s his name?”

“You know very well what his name is,” she said drily. “You introduced us, remember?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said snidely. “Brad.”

“Blake,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Blake Farrell.”

“Right. What about Blake?”

Self-conscious now, Ellie avoided eye contact. “What about Blake for what?”

Aidan raised one eyebrow, but said nothing.

“Oh, fine,” she said, exasperated. She knew exactly what he was referring to. Sex. “If you must know, I’m not seeing Blake anymore.”

His mouth opened, then closed. After a pause, he said, “Ah. Sorry it didn’t work out.”

“You don’t sound sorry at all.”

“You’re right.” He grinned wolfishly. “I’m not. He wasn’t the guy for you.”

“But you introduced me to him.”

“You were both standing there,” he said with a shrug. “I was just being polite. I never expected you to start dating him. I’m glad you broke up. You can do a lot better than him.”

“Now you tell me,” she muttered. “After I already asked him to…” She stopped talking, but it was too late.

Aidan’s eyes narrowed in on her. “You asked him to be the father of your child?”

“I think this conversation has gone far enough.” She grabbed her tablet off the chair and turned to leave.

“Funny, I think it’s just getting started.” He circled around to meet her face-to-face, effectively preventing her from dashing out of his office. “Ellie, I introduced you to Blake three weeks ago. Are you saying that after three weeks of dating, you asked him to—”

“Yes. Yes, I did.” She began pacing again, but couldn’t get far with him standing right in front her. “I don’t know what I was thinking. But in my defense, we were going out every weekend, having a great time, getting to know each other. So one night at dinner he asked me where I saw myself in five years and I told him.”

“You told him what, exactly?”

She wanted to bury herself somewhere. Instead, she drew in a breath and said, “I told him that in five years I saw myself living on Alleria, working for Sutherland Corporation, and taking care of my adorable four-year-old child.”

She watched Aidan’s eyes widen. His lips quivered. He tried to bite back a grin, but it was useless. He finally began to laugh. “Let me get this straight. You basically told a guy you’ve been dating for three weeks that you’re looking for him to be your baby daddy?”

“Not exactly,” she said. But it was no use. His laughter was justified. “Okay, he might’ve interpreted it that way.”

“You think?”

“Stop laughing. What do I know? Blake was the first date I’ve had in three years.”

“Three years?” He looked her up and down. “What’s wrong with the guys you know?”

“It’s not them, it’s me.” Oh, dear lord. Could she sound like a bigger loser? She had to get out of there.

But Aidan grabbed her shoulders to keep her there and tilted his head to meet her gaze. “Honey, trust me. It’s not you. You’re smart, funny, beautiful. Any man would…well…” He faltered, frowning as he let go of her.

She blinked up at him, then frowned, too. “Well, what?”

He scowled as he walked back to his desk. “Just trust me. You’re not the problem.”

Ellie appreciated his words, but they didn’t really help right now. It wasn’t much fun admitting that she was a total loser when it came to men. Especially to admit it to Aidan Sutherland, who was not only her boss but also the man she had been crushing on for almost four years.

Not that it meant anything. A crush on a man was healthy, right? Of course it was! Sure, she had a personal hang-up or two, but other than wanting to sleep with her boss, she was fine and dandy. Very put-together, highly organized, successful. She had friends. She wasn’t a loser.

She smiled with determination. “I’ll say again that I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more notice, but I’ve got everything covered job-wise. I am absolutely certain that things will run smoothly. I just need your blessing to take the time off.”

“I won’t let you quit your job,” he said fiercely. “We need you too much.”

She was surprised and delighted by his admission. He had no idea how much his words pleased her, but she was still going through with her plan.

“Aidan, you know me. I love my job. I love Alleria. You and Logan are the best people I’ve ever worked with. Believe me, I’ve never been happier and I have no intention of ever leaving voluntarily.”

“Good, because I won’t let you. You’re a vital member of our organization.”

“Thank you.” She wouldn’t say it aloud, but she would be a fool to give up this job. After all this time, with all the raises and bonuses they’d given her, she would never find anything comparable, especially in such a beautiful setting as Alleria.

“I’ll never leave,” she reiterated.

“But you’re going to have a baby,” he argued, not quite ready to concede. “That’s not a good sign.”

“I have every intention of raising my baby here on the island and continuing to work for you and Logan for as long as you’ll have me. Okay?”

He scowled, but she knew he was smart enough to know when to give up the fight. Finally he nodded. “Okay.”

“Thank you,” she said. In a spontaneous gesture, she gave him a tight hug. “I really appreciate your understanding.”

“I don’t understand anything,” he said, but managed a half smile as he walked her to the door. “Call me conventional, but I still believe in the man-woman routine.”

Her laugh was lighthearted even if her mind was set. But she decided to humor him anyway. “Fine. You have one week to convince me it’s the best way to go.”

Not that she had any intention of doing things his way, Ellie thought as she walked back to her office. She’d thought this through down to the last detail, and she wasn’t about to change her mind just to satisfy her boss. She’d seen how a messy relationship with a man could turn a woman’s life inside out and she wasn’t about to let that happen to her. Not ever. Not even for Aidan Sutherland.

Two

Later that evening, Aidan sat in one of the resort’s plush beach chairs and stared out at the placid surface of Alleria Bay. He nursed the glass of single malt scotch he’d picked up in the bar earlier before wandering out to the beach to relax and enjoy the quiet evening.

But how could he relax? He’d already been thinking about Ellie in all sorts of inappropriate ways, and then she had come along and added to the problem. True, she’d only been talking about babies. It was Aidan’s fault for bringing up sex by suggesting that she do it the traditional way. Now he couldn’t get the idea of sex with Ellie out of his head.

But that didn’t mean he would act on it. No way. He had to get his mind off his associate and he hoped his upcoming trip to California would help.

Realistically, Ellie wanting a baby was none of his business. But as she’d left his office earlier, she had issued the challenge—joking or not—and Aidan was willing to meet it. He was determined to find her a willing man in a week. The Sutherland twins never backed away from a challenge. But how was he supposed to find a decent guy who would make Ellie happy enough to stay on the island where Aidan needed her? It’s not like he could approach one of the guys he knew and ask if they would be willing to impregnate his senior vice president.

That would be weird.

Skimming his feet over the cool sand of the beach, Aidan tried to figure out where he’d lost the argument with Ellie. Not that he’d been given much chance to argue, he thought. Ellie had presented her plan as a fait accompli. She had no intention of backing down, and Aidan had to admit he appreciated that quality in her. She’d made the decision and she was sticking to it.

So why in the world was Aidan making such a big deal over it? The choice to have a baby was Ellie’s alone to make. It was her life. If she wanted to have a baby, she should go get pregnant and have a baby.

But then she’d be leaving the island. True, it was only for three weeks, but she’d confessed out loud that if the first time didn’t work, she’d be going back again. And again.

Aidan hated to admit it, but things never ran as smoothly when Ellie went away. He would even go so far as to say that things tended to go straight to hell when Ellie was gone. Two years ago, she took five days off and Hurricane Willie struck the island. Last year she was gone for a week and the hotel kitchen staff went on strike.

She was like a barometer for all things Alleria. If Ellie was on the island, life rolled along. When she wasn’t, it was more of a crash-and-burn scenario.

Aidan was tempted to fly in a fertility specialist if it meant Ellie would stay on the island. He considered that for a second or two. It was the perfect solution. One that would make everybody happy, right?

So why was he still brooding about it?

Because, Aidan thought as he sipped his scotch, it still meant that Ellie would be using artificial means to have a baby. And that was the one thing Aidan refused to accept. He wasn’t ready to examine his feelings too closely, but suffice to say it wasn’t fair that his beautiful senior vice president was choosing to get pregnant by means of a turkey baster.

“Fair?” he muttered aloud. Fair to whom? To Ellie? Or to the male population at large? After all, she was a beautiful woman. Plenty of men would be thrilled to help her out. Had she given any of them a chance? Hell, no.

Even Blake Farrell. She hadn’t given him a chance, not really. After all, they’d only been dating for less than a month. What man in his right mind would agree to accept her obvious baby-daddy ploy so quickly after they’d met?

Aidan scowled. The right man would. But Blake Farrell wasn’t that guy. Aidan had known Blake Farrell for years. The guy was a player. He ran an air-shipping operation over on Nassau and had recently opened an office in the port of Alleria. He’d bought a small house in town so he was part of the island community now.

But if Aidan had thought for one moment that Ellie would start dating Farrell, Aidan never would’ve introduced the two. It still rankled him that she’d accepted even one date from him.

Blake wasn’t right for Ellie and he definitely was not the appropriate choice to be the father of her child. But who was? Not that Aidan had any say in the matter, but if Ellie needed someone to do the job, there had to be a lot of guys better suited for the job than Blake Farrell.

Frankly, although he didn’t want to examine his feelings on the subject too closely, he had been relieved to hear that there was no current man in Ellie’s life.

But now that meant that she was going to have a complete stranger father her child. She would be picking some guy’s description out of a book—and who was to say the guy was telling the truth about his attributes? Anybody could donate sperm and claim to be a six-foot-five Adonis when in reality he was three feet tall and a troglodyte.

Hadn’t she considered that? Scowling to himself, Aidan imagined all kinds of weird possibilities stemming from that damn turkey baster.

“Hell, I should offer to do it myself,” he muttered as he sipped his scotch. Abruptly he jerked himself upright in his chair. Whoa. He did not just say that. He tossed down a serious amount of scotch to drown out the words.

There was no way he would ever knowingly father a child. He’d made that decision years ago after watching his own father struggle as a single parent. Aidan and Logan’s mother had left them when the boys were only seven years old. It had been a defining moment in Aidan’s life and while he thoroughly enjoyed the pleasure that women provided, he wasn’t about to trust one enough to marry her, let alone have a child with her.

He would never risk a child of his experiencing the abandonment he’d gone through himself. And now he realized that this was a big reason why he wasn’t happy that Ellie was planning to go through with the pregnancy on her own. She was walking right into a single parent situation with no idea how difficult her life would become. And she wasn’t the only one to consider. Her child would go through life without a dad. That wasn’t right.

Had Ellie tried hard enough to find a man to father her child?

But then he remembered the look on her face earlier when she’d said, It’s not them, it’s me.

Hell, of course she’d tried to find a partner, but no one had been smart enough to step forward. She’d been so vulnerable while talking about it, Aidan had almost taken her in his arms and kissed away the pain he’d seen in her eyes. But he hadn’t done it, thank God. That would have been a huge mistake.

Not that he wouldn’t have enjoyed it, he thought as he stood and walked to the water’s edge. That wasn’t the point. The point was, it was never going to happen.

Too bad. Because now that he was thinking about topics like trust and women and Ellie, in particular, it occurred to him that there was one woman in the world he did actually trust. Ellie. When it came to business, she was scrupulously honest. She always spoke her mind. And she always had his back in any negotiation they entered. She was almost as good a partner in wheeling and dealing as his brother, Logan, was.

Logan had agreed with Aidan that Ellie would make a good junior partner. Before Logan left on his honeymoon, the brothers had decided to offer Ellie the position. The plan was to wait until Logan got back to the island. They’d never brought in another partner before, but they both agreed that there was nobody better for their organization than Ellie. And if they wanted the company to grow even larger, they needed someone else in the top ranks who had her intelligence, business insight and unwavering principles.

And all that had nothing to do with the fact that she was downright sexy and beautiful. He thought again of those amazing legs of hers, pictured them wrapped around his waist with him buried so far inside her, he could feel it.

The carnal image was so vivid, he almost lost his footing. Damn, his mind was wandering down a perilous path and if he wasn’t careful, he’d find himself facedown in the sand.

He recovered quickly and drank down a good slug of scotch. The smooth, liquid heat soothed his throat and snapped him out of his wayward thoughts. His wildly active imagination meant nothing in reality. He liked Ellie, would love to take her to bed, but it wouldn’t happen. It couldn’t.

How the hell could he risk losing Ellie as a business partner if a romantic thing between them didn’t work out? Or worse yet, what if he initiated something and she was so offended she quit?

“She wouldn’t just quit,” he muttered darkly. “She’d punch you in the nose first and then quit. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”

Still, he wanted her to be happy.

But apparently, it was going to take having a baby to accomplish that.

“Hell.” He rubbed his face, annoyed with himself. If he was being honest, he would have to admit that if Ellie had approached him and asked him to be the father of her child, he would have had a hard time pushing her away. But he absolutely would’ve turned her down in the end. Wouldn’t he? Of course he would’ve. There was no way he would say yes to something like that. Even if it was Ellie doing the asking.

“Not that she asked you,” he groused, then scowled at his own idiotic statement. It was official: he had lost his mind. Exasperated, he swallowed the rest of the scotch and headed back to his suite before he found himself howling at the moon like the rest of the lunatics in the world.

Ellie yawned, then finished the last of her tea and shut down her computer. She should’ve gone to bed an hour ago, but since she knew she wouldn’t sleep anyway, she had spent more time sifting through the family photos her sister, Brenna, had sent from Atlanta. A picture of Brenna with her darling husband, Brian. One of Brenna and Brian with their two adorable children. Various shots of the kids on their new backyard jungle gym. And the latest one, a blurry ultrasound photo of Brenna’s unborn baby.

Doctor’s pretty sure it’s going to be a boy, Brenna had written in the email. Lilah’s so excited to have another brother. No annoying little sister to deal with.

Ellie smiled. She could hear Brenna laughing as she wrote those words, since it was Ellie who’d been the annoying little sister Brenna had dealt with all her life. And thank goodness for that, Ellie thought.

Now Brenna had her own wonderful family and Ellie couldn’t wait to see them all again. That was another reason she had chosen the Atlanta clinic. She would get to visit with her sister’s happy, loving family again.

Ellie and Brenna hadn’t always been this happy. Growing up, their mother had been absent most of the time, even when she was sitting in the same room with them. That was what happened when a woman became so obsessed with a man who wanted nothing to do with her. Rather than give any love or attention to her own children, their mother had kept it all inside, saving it up, just in case their father ever returned. Except he never did. He didn’t want anything to do with them. He had moved on, found another woman to marry, a woman who gave birth to children he cared for much more than he had ever cared about his first two daughters.

But Ellie’s mother never gave up on him, never stopped loving him or chasing him, never stopped pretending that he would come back one day. She was always ready, always perfectly dressed and coifed in case he showed up at the door. She insisted that the girls be ready, too. And in her own subtle way, their mother never stopped blaming Ellie and Brenna for causing him to leave. That is, when she managed to remember that she had two children who needed her.

One day, when the girls and their mother were enjoying a rare moment of fun at a local hamburger stand, their mother thought she spied their father walking down the sidewalk. She raced outside to catch him, saw the man cross the street and blindly dashed after him. She was struck and killed by a city bus.

It was one of many lessons that Ellie took with her into adulthood. She would never, ever cling to or chase after a man who didn’t love her. Ellie wouldn’t do to her own child what her mother had done to Ellie and Brenna.

After all, she didn’t want to get hit by a bus.

More than that, she refused to allow her self-esteem to be shattered as her mother’s had been. Her mother had made a fool of herself over and over again. She had deluded herself for years and, slowly but surely, the delusions had replaced reality. Ellie would never allow that to happen to her.

She carried her teacup over to the sink and rinsed it out. As the water ran, she thought about the tiny creature in her sister’s ultrasound photo, silently waiting to be born into a loving family that couldn’t wait to greet their newest little member.

Ellie was so excited for Brenna. The two of them had basically raised themselves after their mother died, staying under the radar so that the county wouldn’t send Ellie into foster care. How they’d managed it, they still didn’t know. But it meant that they were fiercely loyal to each other. Brenna had taught Ellie so much more about life and real love than she’d ever learned from her mother.

One thing Brenna always wished for herself and Ellie was that someday they would each have their own big, boisterous families to love. She imagined how Christmas mornings would be, with their children staring in awe at all the colorful packages under the tree. It would be a noisy, busy, frenzied moment when they all ripped into their presents and shouted out their joy and excitement.

Ellie smiled at the memory. Now that Brenna’s dream had come true, now that she had Brian and a wonderful family of her own, Ellie couldn’t be happier. They were her family, too.

Brenna always told Ellie that someday it would happen for her, too. She would meet a man who would love her and want to start a family with her. Ellie had thought she could wait for that day. But five days ago, Blake broke up with her—probably a good thing—and the very next day, her sister announced she was having another baby by way of sending the ultrasound photo.

“You’re going to be an auntie again!” the email subject line announced gaily.

Gazing at the fuzzy outline of Brenna’s third child, Ellie had realized that someday might never come for her. She might always be an auntie, never a mom. That’s when she’d impulsively made the decision to do something about it. She would go it alone. And she would do it right away, before she could think about it too much and pick apart all the reasons why she shouldn’t do it. She phoned the Atlanta fertility clinic that very minute and made the appointment.

So that was done. Now she just had to deal with one more wrinkle in her plan.

Aidan.

As Ellie recalled Aidan’s reaction to her news, her cheeks flushed with heat. Why not do it the old-fashioned way? he’d asked her. Would it have shocked him to hear her reply, “Are you offering to do the job?”

Yes, it would’ve shocked him and probably would’ve ended her career at Sutherland Corporation. It wasn’t often that female employees were fired for sexually harassing the male boss, but there was a first time for everything.

Aidan had promised to try and convince her that the time-honored, man-woman route was the way to go, but she doubted he would bring up the subject again. Especially after she’d made her pitiful confession that she didn’t even have a man around to do the job for her, so to speak.

If only Aidan had offered his own services.

“Oh, good grief.” She felt herself blushing even worse than before. Was she out of her mind? Aidan was her boss, in case she’d forgotten. There was no end to the list of complications and ramifications of having her own boss be the biological father of her child.

Sadly though, her biggest problem had nothing to do with the fact that Aidan was her boss. It had to do with the fact that she had wanted the man for years. Secretly, of course. She hadn’t dwelled on her feelings for him in a long time, and she blamed their discussion about babies and sex for making her think of it now. Except for that conversation, she considered her crush on him mainly shallow and, well, sexual. Nothing wrong with that, right? The man had a great body! He was smart and funny and nice, too. God help her if she ever began to obsess over him, because if her feelings deepened, she would be in big trouble. Hadn’t her mother gone through life pining over a man, worshiping him from afar and losing herself in the process?

No, Ellie would never become dependent on a man. She liked Aidan, thought he was sexy, but that was it, thank goodness. There was no way she would ever turn into her mother.

“Hell, no,” she muttered defiantly as her hands rolled into fists at the very idea. She tossed her lightweight bathrobe on the bed and climbed under the covers. But as she fluffed her pillow, she wondered what it said about her when, despite the fact that Aidan would never make the offer to get her pregnant, she knew that if he did, she would have a hard time rejecting the offer. No matter how hard she had tried to avoid the attraction she felt for him, a direct proposition would be too tempting to pass up.

“Because you are crazy,” she said aloud. But that didn’t seem to matter as she continued to reflect on the joys of giving birth to a baby boy whose father was Aidan Sutherland. Her child would grow up to be handsome, rugged, gregarious, smart and athletic, just like his daddy.

She sighed. And even though it would never happen, the thought was so pleasant that she continued to dwell on it as she drifted off to sleep.

Two days later, Aidan held his regular weekly meeting with the resort managers to go over the schedule for the weekend and discuss any problems that might follow them into the next week.

Once the meeting ended, Serena, his catering manager, and Marianne, the head of housekeeping, met at the coffee machine. Aidan waited behind them as the two women filled their mugs and chatted.

“I’ll bet she’s already packed,” Marianne said. She kept her voice low, but she couldn’t disguise her excitement. “You know how she is.”

“Yes, organized to the teeth,” Serena said as she poured a dollop of cream into her cup. “God, I’m going to miss her so much.”

“She’ll only be gone for three weeks.”

“Oh, come on,” Serena said quietly. “Once she gets pregnant, do you really think she’ll stay?”

“She promised she would.”

“But she’ll have a baby to take care of.”

“Duh,” Marianne said. “But she loves it here.”

“Of course, who doesn’t? But come on, what kind of life will she have trying to raise a child on Alleria?”

“Hello?” Marianne said. “I have two kids and I live here quite nicely, thank you.”

Serena slapped her arm lightly. “I know, goofball, but you got yourself a husband first.”

Her friend frowned. “True. Hmm.”

“If Ellie’s determined to have a baby, she’ll want a husband eventually and she’s sure not going to find one here.”

Marianne sighed. “I have to agree with you there. The men who come to Alleria are only looking for short-term action.”

Serena gazed at her. “And yet you found Hector here.”

“Sure did,” Marianne said, winking as she rolled her shoulder seductively. “He came here looking for one hot mama and he found her.”

They both giggled and Serena said, “You got lucky and so did Hector. But the last thing most men come here for is a mama, no matter how hot she is.”

“I guess you’re right,” Marianne said. “It breaks my heart.”

“Mine, too, but Ellie will soon realize her child needs a father.” Serena leaned closer. “Remember I told you about my sister being a single mother? She’s struggled for years just to get by. It’s not right.”

Marianne sighed. “Alleria is no place for a single mother to go looking for a father for her child.”

The two women continued to chat as they walked away, never looking back to notice Aidan’s stricken look. He gazed at their backs until they disappeared into the hall. Then he sat down and thought about what he’d heard.

Those women were two of Ellie’s best friends on the island. If they expected her to leave, how could Aidan expect anything different?

That settled it. He had weighed all the options and there was only one clear way forward. Serena and Marianne were right. Aidan couldn’t take the chance that Ellie would realize she’d need to leave the island once she was raising her child on her own. He had to take action. He’d been tossing ideas around for the last three days and it was driving him crazy. But after hearing what those women had said, he knew there was only one solution.

Now he just had to convince Ellie.

“No. No way. Absolutely not,” Ellie said as she jumped up from her chair and faced him. “Are you crazy?”

Maybe he was, Aidan thought. When this same thought had occurred to him a few days ago, he’d dismissed it out of hand as a sure sign he was losing his mind. But after he’d overheard that conversation yesterday, he’d reconsidered and now this seemed the most logical solution to his problem. He could give Ellie a baby. They could do it the old-fashioned way. One problem solved.

“More importantly,” he continued, ignoring her protests. “I could support the child and you. You wouldn’t have to worry about being a single mother. It’s the best possible solution to the problem.”

“I don’t have a problem,” she countered.

“Not yet, maybe. But look at what this would mean in the short run. You wouldn’t have to travel back and forth and worry about getting jet lag, you know, in your ovaries.”

She whipped around. “Seriously, Aidan? Jet lag in my ovaries?”

“Hey, I’m just repeating what you said.” He shook his head, knowing he sounded ridiculous. But it was too late to turn back now. “And another thing. On the off chance that the injections don’t take the first few times, you wouldn’t have to drag yourself back and forth from Atlanta.”

She didn’t say anything in response, but he could tell she was thinking about that one.

“Plus, you can stay here on the island,” he pointed out reasonably, “as you said you’d prefer to do. Plus, I’m right here to support you through it all.”

“Uh-huh,” she said softly.

“I did some reading,” he continued. “There’s often a lot of anxiety attached to this whole process. You need to be careful or you could sabotage yourself. You know, you could make yourself infertile or something.”

“First, you’re nuts,” she said, counting off with her fingers. “And second, you did some reading? That’s so sweet.”

He shrugged. “I’m your friend. I’m concerned.”

“You’re my boss. You don’t want me to go.”

“That’s secondary,” he insisted so strongly he almost convinced himself. “Your health and well-being are my main concern.”

She rolled her eyes. “Right. Look, I appreciate it and everything, but your idea would never work.”

He leaned closer. “Why, Ellie?”

She gazed back at him intently. “Because you don’t want a child.”

“But you do.”

“Yes, and I have a perfectly sensible and practical way to make it happen. And it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

He drew a breath and changed tactics. “We’ve known each other a long time, right? We get along great. And hey, we’re in the same vicinity. So if you were, you know, ovulating and, you know, the time was right, all you’d have to do is call me and I’d be there for you.”

“You make it sound so romantic,” she said, patting her heart wryly.

“What? A turkey baster in some clinic is more romantic?” He chuckled. “Besides, this isn’t about romance, right? It’s about the baby you want. And it’s about your child knowing who his father is. Don’t you want that for him?”

“Him?”

“Ellie,” he said, “just think about it. This makes a lot of sense. I can have our lawyers write up a contract that spells out the terms for child support and whatever else you want it to say.”

She blinked at that. After a moment, she said, “I’m not sure I want you obligated to support my child.”

He’d never met a woman who didn’t want his money, but Ellie wasn’t like any other woman he’d ever known. He was still determined to provide support, though, but right now the exact terms didn’t matter. What mattered was that she would have the baby she wanted. And she would stay and continue to work for Sutherland, which Aidan wanted. And the deal would be done.

Just to be sure they were on the same page, he said, “I would want a clause that says you and the baby will stay and live on Alleria.”

“I always planned to do that.”

“But you might change your mind after the baby’s born.”

She shook her head. “I won’t.”

“You never know,” he argued. “You might want to get married someday.”

“I have no intention of getting married,” she insisted.

“You never know,” he said with a shrug. “And if you changed your mind, how would you meet a man around here? Let’s face it, most men who come to Alleria are only looking for short-term action.”

She gave him a suspicious look and he wondered if her girlfriends had already mentioned that point to her. Didn’t matter. The more points he racked up for his side, the better.

As she sat back down in the chair opposite his desk, she nibbled at her lower lip, clearly nervous. Instantly, his groin strained with arousal and all he knew was that if she kept biting those lush lips of hers, he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.

He was getting more and more fond of this whole idea by the minute.

“I’m pretty sure this is a bad idea,” she said.

He adjusted himself before leaning forward and resting his arms on his desk. “It’s actually a really good idea, Ellie. Unless…” He frowned at her. “Here I’ve been assuming all this time that you found me attractive enough to go through with it. Maybe I was wrong.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” she grumbled. “Of course I find you attractive. You’re the most…Oh, never mind. You’re just fishing for compliments. I refuse to feed your ego.”

“Too late.” Aidan couldn’t help grinning.

“Look,” she said after taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “This has nothing to do with whether I think you look like a troll or whatever.”

“A troll? Thank you.”

“I’m kidding. You’re not a troll and you know it.” Her smile turned sober. “It’s just that I find the whole idea a little awkward, that’s all.”

“Awkward?”

“Well, yeah, Aidan. To do this, we’d have to be naked.” She blew out a breath. “We work together. Seeing each other, you know…that’s awkward.”

Naked. Okay, maybe he was just being a guy here, but the only thing he found awkward about this situation was that she wasn’t naked now. Still…he sat back and thought about what she’d said for a moment. Basically, she felt awkward and it was all his fault. Hell, if he could kick his own ass, he would do it. “Damn, Ellie. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Now she looked contrite. “It’s okay. I know you didn’t set out to embarrass me or anything. It’s not in your nature to be mean. But you have to admit the idea’s a little…bizarre.”

He took a careful sip of coffee and wondered if his desperation was starting to show. He had overplayed his hand and she was about to turn him down. A woman. Turning him down. Was there an apocalypse about to happen that no one had told him about? Logan would laugh his ass off if he ever found out about this conversation.

“You’re right,” he said wearily. “The last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt our working relationship. If it’s possible, can you please forget I ever said anything?”

“Just give me a minute,” she murmured.

“Take all the time you need. In fact, if you’d rather collect your thoughts and meet later…”

But she ignored him as she started to voice her feelings. “It makes a certain kind of sense to stay here on the island and take care of it, I mean, do…it…with you.” She rushed to add, “Even though it’s a terrible idea. Because, you know, it’s you and me. We’re pals. Or we were. I hope we still are. But more than that, you’re my boss and I’m your…you know. Your employee. So that makes it a really bad idea, right?”

Truly desperate now, Aidan played what he hoped was his trump card. “What if you were more than my employee? What if I told you I was planning to make you a partner?”

She didn’t react right away and Aidan thought maybe she hadn’t heard him. He wasn’t going to mention the fact that he and Logan had already decided to offer Ellie the partnership. She deserved it and it was past time they offered it to her. And if a partnership deal would help sway her to accept his other offer, he was willing to add it to the pot. On the other hand, if his other offer was totally offensive to her, the partnership deal might help lighten the insult.

He just wished she would say something one way or the other. It wasn’t like her to equivocate so much.

Finally she looked up and squinted at him. “What did you just say?”

He smiled. “I’m offering you an associate partnership in our corporation.”

Ellie was pretty sure most of the blood in her head had flowed right out, leaving her brain empty and her ears ringing. She felt dizzy and faint and was still not sure she’d understood him. “Say that again, please.”

“Partnership, Ellie,” he said. “You heard me. I know you want it.”

Of course she wanted it. She had brought up the subject of partnership during her review last December, asking the brothers if they had considered adding a partnership track to incentivize their top senior-level employees. Aidan and Logan had admitted they hadn’t yet decided, unsure whether they wanted to include anyone else in their tightly knit twoman operation.

“You—you’re offering me a partnership position.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because you deserve it. And because I’m determined to do whatever it takes to keep you here working with us.”

She would’ve stayed without the partnership offer, but now she was overwhelmed. First he’d offered his own sperm—and everything that went with it, so to speak. Now he was offering her a partnership deal? Had she won the lottery? What was going on?

“Well, what do you think?” he asked.

“I’m stunned,” she admitted. “And a little suspicious of the timing of your offer.”

He nodded. “I understand how you might feel that way, but the truth is, Logan and I had already planned to make you the offer once he was back from his honeymoon. I’m just speeding up the process.” Standing, he walked over and sat down in the chair next to her. He took hold of her hand, warming her all the way through to her heart. “I know you want to have a baby and I want to help you if you’ll let me. It’s your choice, absolutely, and no matter what you decide, you’ll still be a partner and a friend. I brought up the idea with the best of intentions, no matter how idiotic it sounded to you.”

“Oh, Aidan.”

“Wait.” He held up his hand. “I feel honor bound to add that it wouldn’t make me uncomfortable at all to see you naked. In fact, it’s pretty much all I’ve thought about lately.”

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