For the baby’s sake...

Scarlet and Mason Spencer’s marriage was once hotter than a summer heat wave. But their failed attempts to start a family chilled their passion. Now on the verge of divorce, Mason’s single-parent brother is dying, leaving his baby girl in Mason’s care...and pulling Scarlet into a ruse that she’s still the billionaire’s happy, loving wife...

Pretending to be a family so Mason’s brother’s final days will be peaceful starts feeling like the real thing—as does the combustible chemistry she finds in her sexy soon-to-be-ex husband’s bed. Will Scarlet’s baby favor lead to a reunion...and the family they’ve always wanted?

“What if I said I wanted you to kiss me?” Scarlet asked.

Mason squeezed his eyelids tightly shut to block out the image of her looking up at him with those full lips and sad eyes. It was as though she could sense his weakness and knew that she was it.

The hand on his chest lifted, but before Mason could open his eyes, he felt her palm against his cheek. She softly caressed his face, letting her thumb drag across his bottom lip. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“It’s not what I want to say, Scarlet—it’s what I want to do.”

She moved closer to him, pressing her firm breasts against his chest. Her whole body was aligned with his, reminding him of how she was the perfect fit for him in so many ways.

“What do you want to do, Mason?”

He couldn’t hold back any longer. His eyes flew open to look down at her before the floodgates gave way. “This,” he said.

Diving forward, he scooped her face into his hands and pulled her mouth to his.

* * *

The Baby Favor is part of Harlequin Desire’s #1 bestselling series, Billionaires and Babies: Powerful men... wrapped around their babies’ little fingers.

The Baby Favour

Andrea Laurence

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ANDREA LAURENCE is an award-winning author of contemporary romances filled with seduction and sass. She has been a lover of reading and writing stories since she was young. A dedicated West Coast girl transplanted into the Deep South, she is thrilled to share her special blend of sensuality and dry, sarcastic humor with readers.

To Adoptive & Foster Parents Everywhere—

Whatever your reason for opening your hearts and your homes to a child in need, thank you.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Introduction

About the Author

Title Page

Dedication

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

Seven

Eight

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

Epilogue

Extract

Copyright

One

As a general rule, phone calls that came after midnight were bad news.

An hour ago, when Scarlet Spencer had looked at her caller ID and seen her estranged husband’s name, a moment of excitement had rushed through her. The other kind of calls that came at this hour were emotional outpourings brought on by late nights and alcohol. She’d hoped that it was the latter—that perhaps he’d changed his mind about the divorce—but she was to be disappointed. Now she was walking through the front door of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles just after two in the morning and she didn’t know why.

All she knew was that Mason had called and asked her to come. Despite everything that was happening between them, she knew she had to do as he asked. There was something in his voice that scared her. Mason had been her rock for the last nine years. Through the ups and downs of their marriage, he had been the one to hold her hand. She got the feeling that tonight, she was returning the favor.

As she walked through the doors of the hospital, she tried to brace herself for seeing Mason again. She hadn’t seen him since he moved out two months ago and she didn’t know how it would feel. After nine years together, he wasn’t hers anymore. He wasn’t hers to hold or care for. She would have to remind herself of that as she consoled him tonight.

Before she reached the elevators, she found Mason sitting on a bench in the hallway. The first time they’d met, she’d instantly been enchanted by the beautiful surfer boy with his golden skin, eyes as blue as the sea and messy brown hair. When he smiled, his dimples had melted her insides. Just a glimpse of him now was enough to set her heart racing in her chest even all these years later.

Tonight, however, there were no smiles. He was slumped in his seat, holding his head in his hands.

He looked defeated. Scarlet had seen that in him only a few times in all these years. Most of the time, he was the confident, successful CEO of Spencer Surf Shops. The guy who never failed at anything. Who always knew the right decision to make. Sexy, bold and sure of himself. Rarely did that facade crack. Once, when he found out he couldn’t give her a child. The second time, when he couldn’t keep the judge from giving their adopted son back to his biological mother. The third time was when he walked out the door, leaving her and their marriage behind.

She couldn’t imagine what happened tonight that could bring that look of despair back to his face. “Mason?” she asked as she approached.

Her husband shot up in his seat, turning to her with eyes more red than blue. He stood quickly, his jaw flexed tight as he tried to hold everything in. He didn’t speak right away, as though if he opened his mouth, a torrent of emotions would pour out of him instead.

“What’s happened? Is it Jay?”

Scarlet knew that Mason’s younger brother, Jay, had been battling stage four melanoma for several months. The last she’d heard, they’d gotten the devastating news that the cancer had spread into all his major organs and they were discontinuing treatment. It wouldn’t surprise her to find out that Jay had finally lost his battle. Something about the look on Mason’s face, however, made her worry that this was something much worse.

“No,” Mason said at last. “It’s Rachel.”

“Jay’s wife?” Scarlet felt her chest tighten. Her sister-in-law had been like a true sister to her. As an only child, Scarlet had enjoyed having Rachel around to talk to and share marriage war stories with. The idea of Rachel raising their daughter alone after Jay passed had weighed heavily on her mind since she found out the news. Luna was only a year old and would never remember her father. “What happened?”

“She’s dead.”

Scarlet could only clap her hand over her mouth to hold in the painful gasp. It couldn’t be true. The universe wasn’t that cruel. Baby Luna was already losing her father. To lose her mother, too... “How...?” She couldn’t get the words out. How could something like this happen?

“It was a freak accident. She fell down the stairs carrying a basket of laundry. I can imagine her mind has been all over the place dealing with Jay’s illness. She fell in just the right way to break her neck instantaneously. Their housekeeper found her.”

Scarlet didn’t know what to say. Of everything that had run through her head since she received the call, Rachel’s death was the last thing she expected. It was so bitterly tragic on its own, not to mention when it was compounded by Jay’s illness. “Does Jay know?” she whispered through her fingers.

Mason nodded. “He’s the one who called and told me about it.”

She could only squeeze her eyes shut and shake her head. This wasn’t the way things were supposed to happen. Her own life was a mess and she was dealing with that, but Jay and Rachel... Her heart just ached. Tears welled beneath her eyelids. A moment later, she felt Mason’s arms wrap around her and she didn’t fight it. Instead, she melted into him and let her tears wet the front of his dress shirt. She tried not to think about how good it felt to be in his arms again. How much she missed his scent in her lungs and his warmth surrounding her. He was just comforting her, perhaps comforting himself, and nothing more.

That thought was able to cut through the grief, stab her in her tender underbelly and remind her to keep her emotional distance. With a soft sniffle, she pulled away from him and took a step back. When her gaze met Mason’s, there was a flash of pain there unrelated to the accident. It was as though he was hurt she’d pulled away so soon. As much as she might like to stay in his arms all night, that wouldn’t help her get over him. It was hard enough being in the same room with him knowing he didn’t want her anymore.

Despite everything, Scarlet couldn’t help but wonder why he’d called her tonight. They were getting a divorce and had hardly been speaking for the last two months after he’d moved out of their Malibu beach house. He had family in town. Friends. Surely there was someone else he would want here with him instead of her. He was the one who walked away, after all. Away from her, away from their life together...

Mason cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. “I’m sorry to drag you down here in the middle of the night, but Jay asked to see us.”

Scarlet frowned. “Us?”

He nodded. “He’s waiting on us to come up. He’s on the oncology floor.”

Mason turned toward the elevator, not giving Scarlet a chance to argue with him, as usual. She followed him, both of them silent until they exited on the third floor. Halfway down the hallway, they entered a room with the name J. Spencer written on the whiteboard.

Scarlet held her breath as she stepped inside. She hadn’t seen Jay in a while and she was worried about how she’d react to seeing him in such rough shape. At first, a privacy curtain blocked all but his blanketed legs, then Mason pushed it aside.

The man lying in the bed was half of the robust brother-in-law she’d once known. He’d easily lost fifty pounds on a tall frame that needed every bit of it. His thick brown hair, so much like Mason’s, had thinned. His skin was sallow. But the Jay she knew was still in there somewhere—the life of the party, the comic relief, the easygoing counterpoint to Mason’s perfectionism.

“Hey there,” Jay said in a raspy voice as he spied Scarlet slipping into the room. She reached out and took his extended hand as he offered it to her. “You’re looking beautiful as always, sister.”

Scarlet bit at her bottom lip to keep from crying. “I won’t be able to keep it up if you continue to interrupt my beauty sleep,” she quipped. Jay preferred to keep things light even in the darkest moments, so she’d do her best to comply.

“I know.” Jay’s gaze grew distant as he stared off for a moment. “It couldn’t be avoided. Did Mason tell you what happened?”

Scarlet could only nod as she slipped down into the chair beside the bed. “I’m so sorry, Jay.”

Jay shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. I won’t be wasting away without her. She and I will have a happy reunion before too long. But I asked you both here because I’m worried about what’s going to happen to Luna.”

Scarlet felt stupid. She’d focused on the trauma of the loss and hadn’t even considered the fact that Luna would be orphaned soon. No wonder Jay was up in the middle of the night worried about his daughter’s future.

“We want you to raise her. The paperwork officially just names Mason as her guardian for some reason our lawyers explained but I never understood, but of course we intended to leave her to both of you. I know how badly you both wanted a child. This isn’t the way I expected it to happen, but I hope that you’re open to the possibility of adopting Luna and raising her as your own.”

“She’ll always be your child, Jay,” Mason said.

Jay shook his head. “She won’t remember us, Mason. You and Scarlet will be the mother and father she knows and I’m okay with that. When she’s older, you can tell her about us and about how much we adored her. But I hope you’ll embrace this opportunity and raise her with all the love and support that Rachel and I would’ve given her.”

Scarlet’s heart lodged in her throat as she realized the implications of Jay’s words. She couldn’t make a sound, she could only sit stunned and listen to the two brothers discuss her life like nothing had changed between them. Mason hadn’t told his brother they were getting a divorce yet. Jay was speaking about their future as though he expected them to raise his daughter together. What were they going to do?

Mason reached out and took Scarlet’s hand, squeezing it tightly to silence her concerns. Her gaze met his for a moment and she knew that he sensed her panic. “Of course we will,” he said.

“Promise me,” Jay said.

Mason swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes shut before nodding. “I promise, Jay. Luna will want for nothing. She will have all the love that we can give her.”

Jay finally seemed pleased. He relaxed back into his bed and took a deep, labored breath. “Thank you. You know, when you write your will, you never imagine you’ll actually need it. At least you hope you won’t. In the morning, I’ll have my attorneys start the process of having you declared her legal and physical guardian, Mason. I can’t fill that role from my hospital bed, and before long, you’ll be all she has anyway. Once I’m gone, I hope the two of you will consider adopting her.”

“Of course,” Mason said. His grip on her grew ever tighter as Jay spoke. “You don’t need to worry about a thing.”

* * *

“You haven’t told your brother that we’re getting a divorce?”

Mason halted his quick pace. They were just exiting the hospital and heading toward their cars when she finally confronted him. He was thankful she’d waited that long so no one could overhear the truth he desperately wanted to keep from his brother. He pivoted on the asphalt and turned to look at his soon-to-be ex-wife.

He’d tried not to react to seeing her again for the first time since he moved out, but not even his grief could suppress his response to Scarlet. Even now, after spending the last hour with her under the worst possible circumstances, his heart still skipped a beat when their eyes met. There was an undeniable connection between them that time and distance hadn’t dulled. He didn’t know if anything could.

She was the most beautiful women he’d ever seen in person, and LA was filled with beautiful people. In his eyes, no one could compare. Scarlet had long brown curls that trailed down her back, soft brown eyes and a disarming smile that had immediately caught his attention when they met. That was just the beginning of her appeal, he soon learned. She was also talented, smart, sensitive and a wonderful mother. At least for the short period of time she had been able to be one.

“No, I haven’t told him. I didn’t tell anyone in my family about the divorce yet.”

“Why?”

“Why?” Mason repeated, running his fingers anxiously through his hair. “Because my brother has spent the last few months of his life battling terminal cancer. My parents are a wreck, barely holding it together. I didn’t want to dump more on them. And really, the demise of our marriage seems fairly inconsequential in comparison, don’t you think? They’ve been too caught up to even notice they haven’t seen you in weeks.”

“Of course it doesn’t compare, but it’s hardly insignificant. Now, because you haven’t told anyone, Jay thinks we’re going to raise Luna as one big, happy family.” Scarlet’s large brown eyes reflected the panic that he’d felt the moment he realized what Rachel’s death would mean for him.

“I know,” he admitted. “But how could I possibly tell a man in his position no?” He remembered his brother asking about putting him in the will not long after Luna was born. He’d agreed. Of course he’d take his niece in an emergency. He just never expected there to be an actual emergency. Or if there was, that it would happen at the worst possible time in his own life.

His lawyer had just sent him a draft of the mediated divorce settlement to review. Once they agreed on terms, it was a matter of signing off and filing it with the judge. Mason had moved out of the house he and Scarlet had bought together in Malibu and got a place in the Hollywood Hills. The new place was definitely a bachelor pad, not a single-dad pad. It was a midcentury modern design decorated with lots of glass, wood and chrome, completely unsuitable for an infant just starting to walk.

Then again, the home he’d shared with Scarlet in Malibu would be perfect. It still had a decorated nursery in it. She’d shut the room up and left it as it was the day they took their adopted son, Evan, back to his birth mother. The home also had an open floor plan with soft, safe surfaces that were fully baby proofed over a year ago.

It also had Scarlet, the mother that Luna would desperately need. That was where Luna should be. Mason was happy to have children with Scarlet when she wanted them, but the idea of being a single father to his niece was horrifying. He didn’t know anything about babies, and he was certain Jay wouldn’t leave Luna to him if he knew Scarlet was out of the picture.

The trick was convincing her to go along with this. After their adoption plans went south, she swore she would never go through that again. Was asking her to take in Luna, even temporarily, going to aggravate the wound? He didn’t know. All he did know was that he’d made a promise to his brother and he would do whatever he had to to keep his word.

“I know that I have no reason to ask you for anything and you have no reason to go along with it. But you were there in Jay’s hospital room, Scarlet. You heard him beg me—us—to take care of Luna. He was worried enough about leaving Rachel all alone, and now he’s powerless to do anything but leave his daughter behind. I know our situation is complicated, but I couldn’t tell him no. I need your help.”

Scarlet crossed her arms over her chest. He knew from years together that it was her defensive posture. She was uncomfortable with this entire situation. “What are you asking of me, Mason? Do you want us to get back together just so you don’t have to do this alone?”

“No, of course not.” But what did he want? He really hadn’t had enough time to process what all this would mean. Life-changing moments that arrived in the wee hours of the morning were hard to work through with a combination of stress and sleep deprivation. He couldn’t process a long-term plan at this point; he could only focus on his next steps. The most important things were to make sure Luna was safe and Jay was at ease.

“For now, I just need you to do me two favors. First, please let’s keep the divorce a secret from Jay and the rest of my family until after...” Mason couldn’t finish the sentence. He still hadn’t fully accepted the fact that his brother had only weeks left to live. Skin cancer was supposed to involve removing a bad mole and getting a lecture about sunscreen. It wasn’t supposed to strike down an otherwise healthy father in his early thirties.

Scarlet watched him silently with dark eyes that didn’t betray what she was thinking. She was always too hard for him to read. Whatever happened inside Scarlet’s head was a secret from Mason. To this day, he wasn’t sure if she blamed him for the fact that they couldn’t have children. It was his fault, really, but did she look at him and see a barren future because of him? He didn’t know. He also didn’t know if she felt he was responsible for everything that happened with Evan. Had he fought hard enough to keep him? Had he hired all the best attorneys their money could buy to keep their son in their home? He thought he had, but it hadn’t been enough.

All he knew was how he felt, and he felt like a failure where Scarlet was concerned. Mason wasn’t the kind of man who failed at anything. He turned a small Venice Beach surf store he started in college into a chain with locations at every major beach in California, Florida and Hawaii. Spencer Surf Shops was more successful than he’d ever dreamed. But none of that mattered to him when he saw the brokenhearted look on Scarlet’s face the day they took Evan away. He had failed her in the one dream she longed to fulfill more than any other.

“Okay. What’s the second favor?” she asked at last.

“I need to move back into the house.” He held up his hand to stop her inevitable protest. “Not forever. I don’t want you to think I’m just trying to sweet-talk you into taking me back so I have a permanent babysitter. But I want to create the illusion of a secure future for Luna with the two of us to give Jay some peace of mind. Everyone thinks we’re still together.”

Scarlet flinched. “You walked out on me and now you just expect me to let you move back in?”

Mason tried not to let her reaction hurt his feelings. He was the one who had left, although he didn’t like the idea that she’d already gotten used to living without him. They were together nine years. “Yes, that’s what I’m asking, but you know I wouldn’t if I had any other choice. It’s just for however much time Jay has left. It will also give me some time to get my place ready for a baby. Our house has a nursery ready to go.”

Scarlet’s already pale skin seemed to blanch at his words. “Evan’s nursery? You want to put Luna in Evan’s room?”

Mason’s jaw tightened. Scarlet’s protection of Evan’s space was something that he’d never challenged before. He knew it wasn’t healthy to keep the room like a shrine to a child who was never returning, but pushing the issue with her seemed like a cruel fight to pick.

“It’s an unused nursery,” Mason clarified. Evan was never going to use it ever again. It was just a room with a crib, a changing table, and some baby supplies and toys that would help ease the situation they were in. “I’m not saying Luna has to stay there forever.”

Scarlet’s lips flattened into a tight line of displeasure, but she didn’t argue with him. Instead, she seemed to be considering his request for a moment, finally dropping her arms at her sides. “Okay, fine. You can stay at the house and bring Luna. But,” she emphasized, “I’m not going to be your nanny, Mason. I’ve got a new gallery opening in San Francisco in two weeks, not to mention a large commissioned piece for a hotel in Maui. I’m behind on it because of everything that’s happened between us and I have to get it done.”

“That’s fair,” Mason said cautiously. “What do you need to make this work for us?”

“I’m happy to keep up appearances for Jay’s sake, but you need to get a nanny to take care of Luna. I won’t—no, I can’t—go into Evan’s room. I don’t even like the idea of Luna using it, but I know that’s unreasonable. You can use it, but don’t expect me to be in there singing lullabies and rocking Luna to sleep. Please don’t ask me to.”

Mason watched as frustrated, glassy tears formed in Scarlet’s eyes. It had been over a year since the judge awarded Evan back to his biological mother, but it may as well have been yesterday as far as Scarlet was concerned.

He had hoped that she might enjoy the time with her niece, but that didn’t appear to be the case. She actually seemed repelled by the idea, which surprised him, but he wouldn’t push the issue. If she agreed to the two favors that really mattered, he would find a way to make it work even if Scarlet was hands-off with Luna.

“I understand. Thank you for doing this. I’ll see about a nanny first thing in the morning.”

“Where is the baby now?” she asked.

“With my parents.” It gave them something to focus on other than the grief. Luna was the same happy baby she always was. For her, nothing was different and that was a good distraction for them. “They’ll probably keep her until Rachel’s memorial service.”

Scarlet nodded and reached into her purse. She pulled out a key and handed it to him. “This is to the house. I had the locks changed after you moved out. Just let me know you’re on your way before you show up. Remember this isn’t your place anymore.”

Without another word, Scarlet turned and headed toward her car in the hospital parking lot. Mason watched her drive away with an aching feeling of disappointment in his stomach. He hadn’t been able to shake that feeling the last few years of their marriage as they battled to start a family. He’d hoped that maybe when they were apart, the feeling would go away. It only got worse.

Scarlet had agreed to do him these favors, but he could tell she didn’t want to. She had loved her little niece, but she resisted the idea of being hands-on with her. He hadn’t had time to ponder the possibilities of what Luna could mean for their relationship, but it was clear that those ideas would just be fantasies. She didn’t want anything to do with Luna. She wanted a child of her own. Once they were divorced, there was no reason for her to even pretend to be a family. Hell, that was why he’d left in the first place, so she wouldn’t be held back from her dream.

That meant that once Jay passed away, Mason was going to be raising his niece all on his own.

A feeling of overwhelming panic started to wash over him. It felt like the first time he’d caught a huge wave surfing and had been engulfed by the harsh cone of water. He could only brace himself for the inevitable wipeout, knowing he was in way over his head.

Two

“You just need to go in there. Get it over with.”

Scarlet turned to her manager, April, with a frown. They were sitting on her poolside deck overlooking the Pacific Ocean. “All right, you’re cut off. No more wine for you.” She picked up the bottle of chardonnay from the table and moved it out of her friend and employee’s reach.

“I’m not drunk. I’m serious, Scarlet. Do it right now. I’ll even go with you. Just open the door and step into the nursery. I think once you do it you’ll feel better. It’s just a room. It doesn’t have any power over you that you don’t give it.”

“Thank you, Dr. Phil. I’ll take that under consideration, but I’m not going in there right now.” April was Scarlet’s best friend, but she was regretting confiding in her about her latest situation with Mason. She was from the school of tough love and wouldn’t pull any punches if she thought Scarlet needed to hear the truth.

“Does anyone go in there? Ever?”

“The housekeeper goes in to clean once a week.”

“Did Mason ever go in there?”

Scarlet hesitated to answer, the memories of that night flooding through her mind like it was yesterday. “He did once. The night they took Evan away. He sat on the floor and cried. Losing Evan was hard on us both. Adopting that beautiful baby boy was a dream come true for us after struggling so long with infertility and sitting on the waiting list to get a baby. It was the best four months of my life. And then when the mother changed her mind...”

April reached across the table and took Scarlet’s hand. “I know it was hard on you. And I’m not going to be the jerk who tells you to move on and forget about him, because that’s never going to happen. You loved that little boy more than anything. Hell, I couldn’t get you to put him down long enough to paint. But I do think that you’re being unreasonable about the nursery. It’s just a room filled with furniture like any other room. Once Mason and Luna move out, maybe you need to redecorate.”

Scarlet snatched her hand away. “Redecorate?”

“Yes. Donate the furniture and baby clothes to a needy family. Paint the walls. Maybe turn it into an office or a yoga studio. Something that won’t haunt you every day about what you lost.”

Scarlet took a large sip of wine and sat back in her Adirondack chair. April was right. She knew she was right. She just hadn’t been able to make herself do it. In her heart, it was Evan’s room. It was their chance at a baby, as brief as it was, and changing that room meant that she was giving up on that part of her life. Or at least it felt that way.

“After they move out, I’ll consider it,” she agreed reluctantly. That answer would hopefully be enough to appease April, but not require her to march into the house and do something about it right that instant.

April gave her a satisfied smile and took a bite of the homemade guacamole and chips she’d brought with her for their girls’ night in. “When is Mason moving in?”

“The funeral service for Rachel is tomorrow, so probably tomorrow night or the next morning.”

“Are you prepared for having your soon-to-be ex-husband living in the house again?”

Scarlet sighed. She wasn’t really sure how she felt about it. “It’s hard to say. This whole situation is so complicated. On one hand, he hasn’t been gone that long, so having him back in the house may just feel like he’s been on an extended business trip. Then again, he’ll be in the guest room, not in bed beside me.”

“You could always invite him into the bed beside you,” April said with a sly wink.

Scarlet responded with a nervous giggle. “Yeah, right. I’m sure he’d bite, because that won’t complicate matters at all. Anyway, if my feminine wiles were that powerful, I wouldn’t have lost him in the first place.”

April ignored her sarcastic tone. “I still don’t understand how you two could break up. You were the perfect couple. Your marriage was what I was striving for. Now you’re divorcing and living in separate houses. It makes me feel very dubious about my own love life. I don’t get it.”

No relationship was perfect, although it might look like it from the outside. “We had issues. There were a few things that bothered me before the baby thing came up, but I thought we could work through it. In the end, I’m not the one who left, April. You’ll have to ask Mason why he decided to give up. I know things between us had become...strained... And then he told me he wanted a divorce.”

It had been only a couple months since their marriage unraveled, and the moment was still fresh and painful in her mind. She knew she hadn’t been herself. Not since they lost Evan. But she’d been getting better. She was trying to reimagine her future without a child in it, and that took time to come to terms with.

“What reasons did he give for wanting the divorce?”

“He said he didn’t want to hold me back from my dream of having a family. Since he was the one who couldn’t have children, he said he thought it was best to step aside and let me find someone who could.”

April’s mouth fell open. “That’s the most romantic breakup I’ve ever heard of.”

Scarlet shook her head. “I don’t know that I believe it was entirely selfless. It sounds noble, but I know Mason. He can’t stand to fail at anything. Mason doesn’t do well when he isn’t on top. He’d rather walk away from something if he can’t succeed. He’s done it before. Did you know he was a vice president at his father’s company before he quit and started the surf shop? That he dropped out of grad school? This was the same thing. Staying married to me would be a daily reminder that he failed and couldn’t give me a child. And by that point, we’d started growing apart. If you’d asked me two years ago about us ever divorcing, I would’ve laughed in your face. But we’d become strangers living in the same house.”

She knew most of that was her fault. Once they started to try having a family, she’d become obsessed with the idea. As the only child of two only children, Scarlet had always wanted a big family. Three or four kids at a minimum. For the first five years of their marriage, she and Mason had been focused on their careers and they’d been very successful. It wasn’t until they decided to finally try for a family that things started to come apart.

Their passionate nights became dominated by ovulation kits and monthly disappointments. Then romance went out the window entirely in the face of sterile doctors’ offices and medical exams that uncovered that Mason was infertile. It had been a huge blow to them both, but Mason seemed especially devastated by the diagnosis. She had tried to convince him that she didn’t care, that they could adopt a child who needed a home. When that fell apart, too, they had no hope left for their marriage to cling to. At that point, Mason did what he always did—he made a decision without consulting her, and moved out.

“Do you think things will be different with him back in the house again? Now that he has custody of Luna, perhaps you could reconcile.”

Scarlet didn’t really think that was an option. Being back together would be awkward at best, contentious at worst. She imagined them tiptoeing around each other, trying to adapt to a new dynamic that flew in the face of nine years together. “This won’t really be the right environment to rekindle our romance. We’ll have Luna here. And the nanny.”

April set down her empty wineglass and turned in her seat to look at Scarlet. “May I ask what the nanny is about?”

Scarlet’s brow furrowed at her friend’s silly question. “I’m on deadline. That massive humpback whale oil painting is due next week. You of all people should know that. And we’re on the verge of opening up the Fisherman’s Wharf gallery. That’s going to keep me busy.”

April didn’t look convinced. “So busy that a woman desperate for children can’t make time in her day to care for her orphaned niece, who needs a mother more than anything in the world?”

Scarlet frowned at her insightful friend. So she wasn’t that busy. They would need help with Luna, though. She’d rather have an in-home nanny than put her in day care while they worked.

“Tell me that you’re not putting up these walls as a self-preservation mechanism,” April said.

“A what?” Scarlet snapped.

“You got attached to Evan and you lost him. Are you deliberately keeping distance between you and Luna so you don’t get attached to her, too?”

That question hit a little closer to home than Scarlet cared for. Best friends saw too much sometimes. “It’s not my baby, April, and Mason and I aren’t reconciling. I know this whole thing seems like a terrible twist of fate that will reunite us and give us the child we’ve always wanted, but that’s just not the case. Mason made it very clear to me that this is all for show, to put Jay at ease.”

She sat back in her chair with a sigh. “Of course I love Luna as my niece, but no... I’m not going to let myself fall head over heels for her when Mason is her sole legal guardian. I basically have no rights in the matter. When he decides the time is right, he’s going to take her away from me and carry on with his life. I’ll be alone again, and brokenhearted, because he decided I need to go out and have a child of my own. No.” She shook her head. “I’ll do what he asked of me, but I can’t let myself get attached to another child that isn’t mine. That’s why I refused to try adoption a second time after we lost Evan. I couldn’t go through that again.”

“So there’s no chance whatsoever that you and Mason will call off the divorce and raise Luna together?” April looked at Scarlet with big, hopeful eyes.

Scarlet understood. It was a beautiful fantasy to have. They really had had a marriage that made other people jealous. They’d started out their careers together, had common goals and interests, and aesthetically they were a match made on a Hollywood film set. Losing Mason had been doubly hard because she really didn’t think she’d ever find another relationship like that one. It was one of a kind and she hated to let it go, but she couldn’t figure out how to hold on to it either.

She’d once held that kind of hope for her marriage, but she’d realized she was being naive. “No, April. While it might seem like our divorce was all about kids, it isn’t that simple and adding a baby won’t fix everything. Mason and I are not getting back together no matter how things might look.”

* * *

Mason’s gaze kept drifting from the white casket covered in pink roses to his wife and niece beside him. The service had been beautifully done. He was surprised, really, considering they had everything arranged for Jay and nothing arranged for Rachel. Fortunately, the funeral home had handled most of the details, and they’d purchased their plots months before after Jay’s grim diagnosis.

To Mason’s other side, Jay was seated in his wheelchair. It was hard for Mason to look at his younger brother. He was like a shriveled skeleton inside the black suit he’d worn last when he was fifty pounds heavier. A hospice nurse had come out with him to check on his oxygen and make sure he didn’t overdo it. Even though it was July, he had a blanket over his lap and a pink rose clutched in his hand. All things considered, he was holding together pretty well.

Mason wished he could say the same about himself. On the outside he looked calm and collected enough, but on the inside he was a bundle of raw nerves. Just a glance at Jay or Scarlet was enough to set him on edge, and for very different reasons. He’d even done a shot of whiskey to get him through the service.

Every time he looked at his brother, he thought about Luna and the future he never expected. Being a father was an idea he’d taken for granted until it couldn’t happen. Once he realized it wasn’t in the cards for him, he’d let it go along with his marriage. The concept of being Luna’s father once Jay was gone—and a single father at that—scared the hell out of him. Would he make the same choices Jay would’ve made for his daughter? Would he screw the kid up by levying the same unrealistic expectations of perfection on her the way his parents had done to him? That was the vicious cycle, right?

Each time he turned away from his brother, he caught a whiff of Scarlet’s perfume on the air. He knew the scent well, having bought her a bottle of it every year on her birthday for the last nine years. The scent reminded him of her hair spilled across pillowcases, of his lips pressed against the hollow of her throat, tasting her pulse, and of her wrapped in nothing but a towel getting ready for the day.

He’d been desperate when he’d asked Scarlet to play house with him for a few weeks. Now a part of him regretted it. Leaving her the first time had been hard enough, but it was something he knew he had to do. Being back under the same roof might make it impossible to leave a second time. But he had no other choice. He couldn’t give her what she needed, despite what she might say to the contrary.

Glancing over at her, he saw Scarlet weeping silent tears as she clutched baby Luna in her arms. They’d decided that their time as a reunited couple needed to start at the service so there was one less worry on Jay’s mind. Once it was over, Mason would unload his stuff from the back of his Range Rover into the beach house. He’d also packed a bag at Jay’s house with Luna’s clothes and some toys. He’d move the rest of her belongings directly into his new place once the time came.

Thankfully, along with her stuff, Mason was also able to bring over Luna’s nanny, Carroll. She was happy to stay with the baby and keep her job, which would ease the transition for everyone involved. It would also give Luna a familiar caregiver when her whole world was changing around her.

Who was going to help Mason as his whole world changed around him?

The pastor ended his short graveside sermon and began the commitment prayer. “We thank You for Rachel’s life here on this earth, and we recognize that the body that lies before us is not Rachel, but rather the house in which she lived. We acknowledge that Rachel is rejoicing, even now, in Your very presence, enjoying the blessings of Heaven. Father, we commit her body to the earth, from which our bodies were originally created, and we rejoice in the fact that her spirit is even now with You. We thank You, Father, that in the days, weeks and months to come, these realities and the abiding presence of Your Spirit will especially strengthen, sustain and comfort Rachel’s friends and family until they can join her there. In Jesus’s name, amen.”

The pastor gestured to Jay and the nurse rolled him forward to place his rose on top of her casket. Jay placed his palm flat against the smooth white wood and closed his eyes. “I’ll see you soon, baby.”

Once he moved back, the pastor thanked everyone for coming and the crowd started to disperse so the team could complete the burial. With Jay needing to return immediately to the hospital, the family had opted against a wake, so it was done. Mason was relieved it was over, even though the next step he had to take might be even harder.

Mason squeezed Jay’s shoulder. “We’ll bring Luna to see you in a day or two, okay?”

His brother nodded and turned to the ambulance that had pulled into the cemetery. “My ride is here. Take good care of her.”

Mason, Scarlet and Luna stood by the grave as the crowd cleared away and Jay was taken back to the hospital. When they could stall no longer, he turned back to her. “I guess we’d better go. I’ve got a lot of stuff to bring in and get settled.”

Scarlet wiped her damp cheeks and nodded. Luna had fallen asleep in her arms. They walked to the car like the family everyone thought they were, loading Luna into her car seat and climbing into the front together.

Driving down the highway back to Malibu with Scarlet in the passenger seat and a baby in the back was a moment that brought back uncomfortable memories for Mason. It felt so easy, so normal, and yet it reminded him of Evan and their short stint as parents.

He’d thought they had a great marriage. He’d had no doubt that they would be together forever. They complemented each other well, had common interests and were very compatible in their day-to-day lives. He enjoyed spoiling Scarlet. He could tell her anything without feeling judged. It was a far cry from the family he’d grown up in, where his father was always needling at him to push harder and do better. He’d meant well, of course, wanting Mason to succeed, but in the end, all he’d done was create a man with an inability to accept failure.

When they’d brought Evan home from the hospital, he had been only four days old. Mason remembered holding his son in his arms, looking at Scarlet and thinking their life was really complete now. Their perfect marriage had now become the perfect family, despite his inability to give her a child of their own. He’d started to think that perhaps he hadn’t failed in this endeavor at all. Scarlet was happy, Evan had a loving family...things had worked out the way they were meant to.

It wasn’t until they got the call from their attorney telling them that Evan’s birth mother had changed her mind that he believed otherwise.

Scarlet pulled the gate opener out of her purse and Mason waited for it to open, allowing them to pull onto their property. “I’m going to put her down to finish her nap,” she said, getting out of the car and unfastening Luna.

Mason went to the back of his SUV and opened the hatch. He hadn’t packed much—a couple of suitcases’ worth of clothes, toiletries and random items he might need, like his laptop and tablet.

As he stepped through the ground-floor entry of their former home, Mason hesitated. He’d moved on instinct up until this moment, but he realized things were different now. Some of the furniture had changed. His favorite chair and big-screen television had moved with him. There was a large floral arrangement on the dining room table in a vase that he didn’t recognize and a bright-colored rug in the entry that was way too loud for his taste.

It was obvious this wasn’t his house any longer and he wasn’t sure where to go next. “Where am I sleeping?” he asked. Initially, he’d thought he’d be in the guest room, but that was where the nanny would sleep. Their four-bedroom house had a master suite, a nursery, a guest room and Scarlet’s art studio.

Scarlet paused and turned to look at him. “I guess we’d better make that decision before the nanny arrives with her things. I think you’ll have to sleep on the futon in my studio, with Carroll staying in the guest room that adjoins the nursery. Since my studio is upstairs near the master, it’s probably a better choice anyway. Even the nanny will think that we’re sharing a room.”

“We can’t just share a room?”

“Uh, no. I’m going along with this whole thing for Jay’s sake, but if you think you’re going to take liberties with me, you’re wrong. I think it’s best you sleep in the studio.”

Although the idea of toughing it out on a futon didn’t appeal to him, she was right. “I don’t want to clutter your workspace. Will I be able to put my clothes and toiletries in your bathroom?”

“I suppose.” Scarlet placed the sleeping baby into the Pack ’n Play they’d set up in the living room. “Just don’t make a mess,” she added with a smile.

Mason chuckled as he turned to the stairs and carried his bags up to the second floor. They both knew that Scarlet was the messy one. Mason was the oldest child, raised to the highest standards possible. He was as perfect as he could be. He was tidy. He cleaned up after himself. He always put his clothes in the hamper and his shoes on the rack. He even made the bed. Or at least his side if Scarlet was still in it.

Scarlet was an artist. She was an only child and was raised to be a free spirit. She saw nothing wrong with leaving a cereal bowl on the counter overnight or leaving a glob of toothpaste in the sink. Most of the time she was splattered in paint.

They were different, but he’d loved that about her. Really, Mason had been envious of her ability to let things go. In the few months they’d had Evan, Mason had been on edge over the mess. “Babies are messy,” Scarlet would tell him with a happy smile even as she wiped away spit-up. He’d tried to loosen up then, but he had more than thirty years of training from his father to overcome.

At the top of the stairs, he turned toward the bedroom to unpack his clothes. He paused just inside the French doors, staring at the king-size bed he used to share with her. At least it looked like the same bed. She had changed the bedding to an ivory-and-purple floral print, and the walls had been painted a pale purple color that almost looked gray. It was a far more feminine room than he’d left behind.

It hadn’t changed enough for him to forget everything that had happened in there, though. The sight of the headboard alone was enough to bring back the memories of passionate nights spent together in this very room. It made his whole body start to tighten in a way furniture shouldn’t elicit.

Despite the ups and downs of their relationship, he and Scarlet had always enjoyed a very physical and satisfying love life. From the first time they’d made love on the beach at midnight to the final time the night before he decided to move out, they’d had that spark. Thoughts of that last night together flooded his mind and sent jolts of electricity south to other parts. That memory had haunted him the last few months, knowing he’d never touch her again that way and it was his own fault. His response tonight was compounded by the scent of her perfume, which was stronger in here than anywhere else in the house. It filled his lungs as he tried to take a deep breath and wish away his response to Scarlet.

“Carroll is here!” Scarlet called to him from downstairs.

“I’ll be right down,” he answered and set his bags to the side. He’d unpack later. Now he needed to focus on getting his body and mind on the same page or this would be a very uncomfortable few weeks.

Three

Scarlet couldn’t shake the feeling that she was a horrible person.

It had been only three days since Mason, Luna and Carroll moved into her house, but she felt awful from virtually the moment it happened. Not because she didn’t like having people in her space or that she resented the situation. It was because she did like it. She liked the scent of Mason’s shampoo lingering in the heavy air of the bathroom after his shower. She liked hearing a baby’s giggles downstairs. It reminded her of the happiest time of her life. And because of that, she had to keep her distance and close herself off from everyone else in the house.

And that was why she was a horrible person.

She hadn’t held Luna since she laid her down for her nap after the funeral. She hadn’t fed her, bathed her, played with her or even so much as stepped a foot into the nursery to check on her in the night. There might as well not even be a baby in the house. Scarlet tried to reason with herself that it was the nanny’s job. That was why she’d insisted they have one, after all. Scarlet was just for show—a make-believe mom for a make-believe family, to soothe Jay’s worries. So she could keep her distance, go along with her agreement with Mason and come out of this situation unscathed.

April was right—this plan was entirely centered on her self-preservation. But who could blame her? What woman with a ticking biological clock and a love of children wouldn’t fall head over heels for Luna? She was the sweetest, most laid-back baby Scarlet had ever encountered. She had a head of crazy brown curls, Mason’s big blue eyes and his dimples. There was plenty of Rachel and Jay in her, too, like Rachel’s pert little nose and Jay’s pouty mouth, but unfortunately all Scarlet could see were the bits of Mason’s genetics in her.

The pieces that their own biological child would’ve had if they could have had their own.

It wasn’t easy to keep her distance. It was just in her nature to want to care for people. When she heard a baby cry, she wanted to soothe it. When Mason swore, she wanted to rush down and see if he’d hurt himself. But she had to remind herself time and time again that this wasn’t her baby and this wasn’t her husband. If she let herself think otherwise, even for a moment, her heart would be crushed when it ended.

As it was, her heart still hadn’t recovered from its last major hit. She wasn’t entirely sure how she could recover when her too-sexy soon-to-be ex-husband was sitting on her couch watching a ball game and working on his laptop.

So far, she had made the excuse that she had to work. And it was true. In her studio, a massive three-panel canvas took up most of one wall, waiting to be painted. When she was done, it would be disassembled, photographed, boxed and shipped to Hawaii to hang in the lobby of the Mau Loa Maui hotel.

Scarlet took a step back and eyeballed her work. The painting was coming along. So far, she’d focused mainly on the background with the three humpback whales roughed in, but not yet done. Locking herself in her studio for hours on end had been helpful for that, at least. As long as she didn’t glance over at the futon with Mason’s neatly folded blankets and pajamas stacked on top of it.

She put down her paintbrush and stretched her hands out. Damn. It had been a long time since she’d worked such long stretches without stopping. How long had it been? Scarlet looked at her watch. It was almost seven in the evening. She hadn’t even stopped to eat, drink or use the restroom since noon.

That was it for tonight. She rolled her shoulders and reluctantly stepped out into the hallway. She could hear the sounds of the television downstairs. It was about Luna’s bedtime, so Carroll was probably giving her a bath.

Scarlet crept down the floating staircase and went into the kitchen. She was surprised to find Carroll there, making herself a cup of hot tea. Her face looked a little puffy and her nose was red. “Good evening, Mrs. Spencer,” she said as though her nose were pinched closed.

Scarlet frowned. “You sound awful, Carroll. Are you coming down with something?”

Carroll shook her head. “I don’t know. I hope not. I almost never get sick and I know now is a horrible time. You’re so busy, and if I give this to Luna, she won’t be able to visit her father at the hospital.”

That was true. The chemotherapy had basically destroyed Jay’s immune system along with the cancer. Unfortunately, the cancer had recovered better than Jay had from the treatment. He would catch any bug he was exposed to and, at this point in his illness, a bout of the flu could be deadly for him.

Carroll set down her tea and launched into a fit of sneezes, followed by a rattling cough that Scarlet didn’t like the sound of. She reached out to touch the woman’s forehead and it was burning up.

“You’ve got a fever. I think you’d better take your tea and get to bed right now. I have some medicine upstairs you can take. I suggest you visit the walk-in clinic first thing in the morning. That flu medicine has to be administered within so many days of symptoms for it to work.”

“What about Luna?”

That was a good question. What about Luna? Scarlet squeezed her eyes shut and resigned herself to her fate. She’d tried, she’d fought, but in the end, fate won out. “We can handle her until you’re feeling better. I’ve made a lot of progress on my next painting.”

Carroll’s eyes grew wide. “No, no. Maybe I could call someone...”

Scarlet would have none of it. “No arguing. Now get to bed right this instant. Is Luna already down for the night?”

“No, ma’am. Mr. Spencer is playing with her on the deck. I asked him to keep her for a minute while I made tea.”

That wasn’t ideal. Scarlet was hoping the baby was already asleep so she could avoid the nursery for as long as possible, but she would do what she had to. “Okay. The two of us can take care of her until you feel better. Now, to bed!”

Scarlet watched as Carroll reluctantly carried her mug with her out of the kitchen toward her room. She steeled herself for what she had to do and went out to the deck to look for Mason and Luna, the two people she’d been trying to avoid.

The deck was empty, as was the pool. Curious, Scarlet walked around to the gate and steps that led to the beach. There, she found Mason and Luna playing in the sand. She stepped down to the beach, kicked off her shoes and walked through the sand to where they were playing.

The summer sun had finally set, but the sky was still bright and people still walked up and down the beach. There was a nice breeze for a summer’s night, reminding Scarlet that she’d spent too much time working and not enough time enjoying the property they’d worked so hard to afford.

“Look, Luna. Your aunt Scarlet has come out to play with us!” Mason picked up the baby and turned her to face the house where Scarlet was walking toward them.

The baby immediately lit up when she saw Scarlet. She grinned wide and dropped her handfuls of sand to reach out for her.

“Someone has missed you,” Mason said.

Scarlet stopped short, biting at her bottom lip. She ached to scoop the baby up into her arms and cradle her to her chest. To smell the top of her head and draw in the endearing scent that reminded her of nights rocking Evan to sleep.

Instead, she crouched down out of arm’s reach. Holding her during Rachel’s funeral had been hard enough. “I doubt that,” she said in a soothing voice she used for babies. “What are we doing out here?”

“We are playing in the sand. I figured she’s about to have a bath anyway, so why not?”

Scarlet nodded. “Well, it appears as though Nanny Carroll has the flu, so I’ve sent her to bed. This dirty little girl is ours to deal with for the next few days.”

Luna reached down to pick up a little red plastic shovel and then dropped it. “Uh-oh!” she declared. So far, she’d mastered mama, dada, no, uh-oh and dog.

“Uh-oh is right,” Mason repeated. “Are we going to be able to handle her on our own?”

“She’s a baby, not a wild animal,” Scarlet said. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

“And what about you?” he asked. His dark blue eyes focused on hers, saying far more than his words ever would. “Will you be fine?”

Scarlet bit at her lip and stood up, dusting sand from her hands. “I guess we’ll find out.”

“Have you gone into the nursery yet?” Mason asked as he followed suit and lifted Luna into his arms.

For a moment, Scarlet was struck by the image in front of her. Her tall, strong Mason casually holding a baby in his arms. It was a simple thing—hardly unusual to any passersby—but it was enough to make her heart catch in her throat.

“No,” she replied, turning away. As her gaze fell on the ocean, she spotted the splash of a pod of dolphins not far offshore. “Look!” She pointed out at the sea.

Mason turned and pointed the animals out to Luna. “Look, Luna. There are dolphins. They’re jumping out of the water. Aren’t they silly?”

Luna’s eyes grew wide and her tiny little mouth formed an O of excitement. She started to clap enthusiastically as they watched them leap out of the water.

“They’re dolphins. Can you say dolphin, Luna? Doll-fin.”

“Dafin!” she exclaimed. “Dafin!”

Scarlet smiled, turning away from one of her favorite creatures on earth to look at Mason and Luna. The two of them together watching the sea with excited grins made her chest ache. This was the life she’d lost. The future she’d never have with him because he’d decided what was best for her instead of asking what she wanted.

“I think our job here is done,” Mason said at last with a satisfied smirk. “She loves dolphins. Next, we just need to get her a baby wet suit and a surfboard.”

Scarlet’s smile dimmed a little. She remembered him making the same threats about teaching Evan to surf. The idea had terrified her at the time, although they’d never gotten that far. “I think she needs to master walking more than a few steps without falling down before she starts shooting the curl, don’t you?”

Mason sighed with feigned disappointment. “I suppose. We need to get her in baby swimming lessons, though. She’s already behind all the kids that started with those ‘mommy and me’ classes. She’s going to be doing the backstroke before her second birthday.”

Scarlet just shook her head and headed back to the house with Mason and Luna on her heels. “Don’t tell Jay about all this. He’ll think you’re out to drown his baby.”

“Don’t be silly, Scarlet. If Luna knows the backstroke, there’s no way she’ll drown.”

* * *

Mason awoke with a start. It took a moment for him to get his bearings in the dark, unfamiliar room. Then, from the crick in his back, he remembered that he was on the futon in Scarlet’s studio.

Then the wail of a baby sounded louder and he realized what had woken him up. He was about to fling back the sheets and go downstairs, but he heard footsteps down the hallway and Scarlet’s soothing voice. “I’m coming, Lulu. I’m coming, baby girl.”

Mason held his breath, waiting to see what would happen. The night before, Scarlet had let him give Luna a bath and put her to bed. In exchange, she’d made some dinner for them both while he was doing it. If he was right, she was about to step into the nursery for the first time in a year.

He got up and crept across the floor as quietly as he could, then peered out the door. Luna’s bedroom was near the foot of the stairs. He saw Scarlet stand there for a moment, just outside the threshold. Then she took a deep breath and stepped inside. After a few seconds, the crying stopped and he could make out the calming mumbles Scarlet said to soothe her.

A few minutes later, Scarlet came out of the bedroom with Luna in her arms. He watched them go into the living room, where Scarlet sat in her favorite chair to rock Luna back to sleep. He remembered her doing the same with Evan. It had worked like a charm every time.

After about ten minutes, he moved quietly down the stairs. “Is everything okay?” he asked in a hoarse whisper.

Scarlet nodded and continued to rock. Luna was snuggled in her arms, already sleeping. “We just needed a new diaper and someone to love on us a little bit.”

Mason settled onto the couch beside her. He watched the way Scarlet looked down at the sleeping baby and immediately understood why she’d chosen to be so closed off the last few days. It was to keep from falling in love with the sweet bundle in her arms. She looked at Luna the same way she’d looked at Evan, as though the sun rose and set on that tiny baby.

He’d thought at first that she just didn’t want to be around her. Scarlet had made it very clear after they lost Evan that she didn’t want to try adoption again. She couldn’t risk falling for another baby only to lose it. He understood that. He didn’t really think of Luna that way, but he supposed in Scarlet’s eyes it was the same. It wasn’t her child, so she wasn’t going to get attached. Scarlet wanted her very own baby; he knew that. Perhaps spending this time with Luna would light the fires in her to settle down with someone else and start a family.

“Motherhood always did look good on you,” he said without thinking.

Scarlet froze for a moment, staring at him before taking a breath and gazing back down at the sleeping baby. “Christian Dior always looks good on me, too, but that doesn’t mean I should wear it all the time.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked, speaking louder than he expected to.

Scarlet raised a finger to her lips, then gingerly stood up. “I’m going to put her back to bed before I answer that question.”

Mason waited as she returned Luna to her crib and shut the nursery door. When she came back, she beckoned for him to follow her out onto the deck. He stood up and traced her steps, noticing for the first time that she was wearing nothing more than a tiny pink cotton chemise with lacy white trim. It fit tightly to her full bust, then flowed freely over her hips to midthigh. It wasn’t exactly lingerie, but it wasn’t your grandmother’s nightgown either.

He found himself instantly responding to the innocent outfit as though it were some racy black teddy. His pulse started racing and his mouth was suddenly bone-dry. He attempted to lick his lips, but it didn’t help. It only made him think about her lips and how long it had been since he’d kissed them. Too long.

After he stepped outside, Scarlet pulled the glass door closed behind them. The sky was an inky black sprinkled with as many stars as the LA lights would allow. The moon was hovering overhead, almost full, casting a silvery glow to Scarlet’s figure.

“What I meant was that just because something looks good on you doesn’t mean you get to wear it. Motherhood might suit me, but it appears that life may have other plans.”

Mason frowned. “I don’t know why you would say that. You’ve got plenty of time to still be a mother, Scarlet. You’re beautiful and talented... Surely you’ll meet a man who will give you the family that you want.”

Scarlet looked at him as though he’d reached out and slapped her. “Stop saying that.”

“Stop saying what? It’s true. That’s why...” He trailed off. That’s why I left you.

Scarlet crossed her arms over her chest, pressing her breasts up against the deep V of her nightgown. “I don’t know why you think that just because you’re divorcing me I’m going to waltz out the door and find another man I’ll love as much as I loved you. Do you think they just have men lined up at the shopping mall and I pick one out and live happily ever after?”

Mason tried not to note her use of the past tense where he was concerned. He was the one who left, but that didn’t mean he had to like the idea of her moving on. “Don’t be silly,” he said. “I’m trying to be serious here. I don’t want you to give up on your dream of having your own family, Scarlet. Not because of me. You can still have it. Sure, it won’t drop in your lap tomorrow, but you can have it.”

“Maybe. Someday. But I sure as hell can’t move on with you here. It’s so hard to have you here and not think about everything else. About us. About Evan. About what a mess our lives have become...”

“Do you think it’s any easier on me? Christ, Scarlet. The last three days have been torture.”

Scarlet flinched. “This is what you wanted. How has it been torture?”

He ran his fingers through his sleep-tousled hair and then rubbed his palm over his face. “Do you know how hard it is for me to be around you and not want you? I am crazy with wanting you. You’re my wife.”

“I was your wife,” she said in a cold, accusatory tone she’d never used during their marriage. “You left me.”

“I left you because I can’t have you, Scarlet. Not and let you have what you need to be happy.”

She narrowed her gaze at him and took a step closer. “How do you know what I need, Mason? You always do this. You’ve always treated me like I’m a part of the company that you have to manage. You’re always making decisions for me, thinking you know what’s best, instead of asking me what I want or listening to me when I tell you things.”

Mason hesitated in his reply. He knew it probably seemed that way. He did listen. He just didn’t believe her. No matter how many times she said she was okay not having children, he knew it was a lie. She was settling. Because of him. And he wasn’t about to let her do that for something so important. Even when he didn’t like what he had to do, he’d do it because it was in her best interests.

“You bought this house without asking me.”

“I bought your dream house on Malibu. You don’t like it?”

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