This month, in

THE MILLIONAIRE’S PREGNANT BRIDE

by Dixie Browning,

Meet William Bradford—CFO of Wescott Oil and millionaire cowboy. His marriage to the lovely Diana Foster was supposed to be in name only. But it wasn’t long before Will found himself wishing Diana would be his wife…in every way!

SILHOUETTE DESIRE

IS PROUD TO PRESENT THE

Five wealthy Texas bachelors—all members of the state’s most exclusive club—set out to uncover the traitor in their midst…and find true love.

And don’t miss

HER LONE STAR PROTECTOR

by Peggy Moreland,

the second installment of the

Texas Cattleman’s Club: The Last Bachelor series.

Available next month in Silhouette Desire!

Dear Reader,

Escape the winter doldrums by reading six new passionate, powerful and provocative romances from Silhouette Desire!

Start with our MAN OF THE MONTH, The Playboy Sheikh, the latest SONS OF THE DESERT love story by bestselling author Alexandra Sellers. Also thrilling is the second title in our yearlong continuity series DYNASTIES: THE CONNELLYS. In Maternally Yours by Kathie DeNosky, a pleasure-seeking tycoon falls for a soon-to-be mom.

All you readers who’ve requested more titles in Cait London’s beloved TALLCHIEFS miniseries will delight in her smoldering Tallchief: The Hunter. And more great news for our loyal Desire readers—a brand-new five-book series featuring THE TEXAS CATTLEMAN’S CLUB, subtitled THE LAST BACHELOR, launches this month. In The Millionaire’s Pregnant Bride by Dixie Browning, passion erupts between an oil executive and secretary who marry for the sake of her unborn child.

A single-dad surgeon meets his match in Dr. Desirable, the second book of Kristi Gold’s MARRYING AN M.D. miniseries. And Kate Little’s Tall, Dark & Cranky is an enchanting contemporary version of Beauty and the Beast.

Indulge yourself with all six of these exhilarating love stories from Silhouette Desire!

Enjoy!

Joan Marlow Golan

Senior Editor, Silhouette Desire

The Millionaire’s Pregnant Bride

Dixie Browning

DIXIE BROWNING

is an award-winning painter and writer, mother and grandmother. Her father was a big-league baseball player, her grandfather a sea captain. In addition to her nearly 80 contemporary romances, Dixie and her sister, Mary Williams, have written more than a dozen historical romances under the name Bronwyn Williams. Contact Dixie at www.dixiebrowning.com or at P.O. Box 1389, Buxton, NC 27920.

“What’s Happening in Royal?”

NEWS FLASH, February—Word has it that one of Royal’s sexiest tycoons has gone and gotten himself hitched—in a hurry! William Bradford has been the talk of the town since he and Diana Foster said “I do.” Not much is known about the blushing bride, but she must be something special to have persuaded Will to give up his confirmed bachelor status! Several eyewitnesses report that Diana has a certain glow about her…could there already be a little Bradford on the way?

Also in the news, it looks like there might be trouble brewing at Wescott Oil. Rumors of missing money abound…. Is there a thief at large? Nobody seems to know for certain, but Wescott’s new CEO, Sebastian Wescott, has refused to comment on the situation, except to say that he is looking into matters….

And what’s going on at Royal’s Texas Cattleman’s Club? It seems a few of Royal’s sexiest bachelors have made a bet as to which one of them will be the last bachelor left standing. Gents, if you need any help on this one, we know a few local ladies who’d be willing to lend a hand….

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

One

Will Bradford switched off the lights in his tenth-floor office in the Wescott Building and debated whether or not to stop off at the Royal Diner for a bowl of chili on the way home. Too much trouble, he decided. After spending one more in a long string of eighteen-hour days trying to unravel the mess left behind by the unexpected death of his partner and one-time friend, Jack Wescott, he wasn’t up to dealing with anything as complicated as a grease-stained menu. His three-day-a-week housekeeper would have left something in the freezer he could zap in the microwave.

That is, if he could stay awake long enough to eat.

You’d think the man had deliberately tried to scramble the books, Will mused tiredly as he reached for the coat of his rumpled, Western-cut suit, slung it over his left shoulder and headed for the elevator. God knows, Jack Wescott had shaved a few corners over the years, but things were in worse shape than anyone had expected. A fanatic regarding privacy, Jack had essentially distrusted anything with a hard drive. Like most successful enterprises, Wescott Oil had a large computer division, yet Jack had insisted on keeping a hands-on set of paper files under lock and key.

Probably, Will mused, because he’d engaged in more than a few questionable business practices along the way to building his oil empire. Jack had been equally reckless in his personal life. Will had known about some of it and suspected more, even though the friendship that had begun more than fifteen years ago had cooled over the past few years.

Jack had been a womanizer, both before and after his marriage had ended. That sort of thing wasn’t easy to keep hidden in a town like Royal, where gossip was a stock in trade. What had taken everyone by surprise, however, had been the sudden appearance of an illegitimate son shortly after Jack’s death; Dorian Brady had turned up last month in Royal.

The resemblance between Dorian and Sebastian Wescott, Jack’s legitimate son and heir, was striking enough that no one had doubted the relationship, even before it had been checked out. It seemed that when any of Jack’s old flames got pregnant, he bought them a one-way ticket out of town. Evidently one of them had read about Jack’s death and told her son, who figured it was time to call in a long-overdue debt.

As much as he hated the scandal for Sebastian’s sake, Will couldn’t blame the guy. If Dorian resented Jack’s shabby treatment of him and his mother, he hid it well. Sebastian had accepted him to the extent of taking his half brother into his home and giving him a job in the computer division of Wescott Oil. Now Seb was pushing for Dorian’s membership in the Texas Cattlemen’s Club.

Will decided to reserve judgment.

Jack’s secretary was another matter. The first time he’d seen her, she’d been backing out of the Royal Diner, talking to someone still inside. He’d held the door and waited patiently—tired, but not too tired to appreciate the view.

Not that she’d been advertising the view. Just the opposite, in fact. There’d been nothing at all outstanding in the tan-gray gabardine dress she’d been wearing. The color had a name: one of those colors with “au” in the middle. Mauve, taupe. He could never remember what it was. With her glossy, brown hair and delicate build, it had looked coolly elegant on a day when the temperature could frazzle the calmest nerves.

Two shapely young women passed by the diner licking ice cream cones. They were wearing tight jeans and skimpy, skin-tight tops. He’d barely spared them a glance.

“It’s over next to the library, I think,” the lady standing in the doorway was saying. “I’ve got several boxes to go, once I sort through them.”

Nice hips. Slender build, rounded in just the right places. Gabardine was a surprisingly sexy fabric when it hung—as this did—over a shapely pair of hips, merely hinting at the surface beneath.

He must have sighed. Will knew he hadn’t said anything, because what could he have said other than, “Would you please either come in or go out, lady? It’s nearly three in the afternoon and I haven’t had lunch.”

She turned—gasped—and wiped a three-scoop ice cream cone across his chest. “Oh, my— Oh, dear— I’m so sorry!”

Will backed up, staring blankly down at the mess she’d made of one of his favorite ties. “It’s all right,” he assured her. Then, when she began mopping the mess up with a handkerchief in one hand, the rapidly melting cone in the other, he said, “Look, it’s really all right, okay? No harm done.”

No harm a dry cleaner couldn’t take care of. Trouble was, he had that three-thirty meeting. He could either go home and change clothes or go inside and have a quick lunch.

“Oh, Lord, I can’t believe—and I think I know you, too. That’s even worse.”

He was edging away, wanting to escape before his shoes caught the rest of her melting chocolate ice cream. “No problem. It’s all right.” She looked as if she might burst into tears, which would be the last straw. He didn’t know her. Might have seen her around town somewhere—she was the kind of woman a man wouldn’t notice right off, but when he did, she’d be worth a second look.

Only not today. Not under these circumstances.

“Excuse me, I think I’ll go drown myself.”

Sticky, hot, irritated, he managed a smile. “Swimming pools frown on that sort of thing.”

“Is there still a French Foreign Legion? Do they take women? Look, I’m really, really—”

“Don’t say it. Better go back inside and wash your hands before you get into more trouble.”

She opened her mouth, closed it again and sighed. Looking disgustedly at the melting mess in her left hand, she tossed it in the trash receptacle, sighed again and walked away.

For several minutes Will stared after her. She was worth watching. Again, nothing particularly outstanding—no twitchy little behind, no slinky movements, she simply walked. Where the devil, he wondered, had he seen her before? There was something about her…

The second time he saw her was several days after the ice-cream episode. She was just coming out of the secretarial pool. On his way to meet someone in the lobby, he’d stopped and stared, tempted to go and ask her name and if she worked there and whether or not she’d be interested in exploring a brief, nonbinding relationship with him. Fortunately, she hadn’t noticed. Fortunately, no one else had, either.

Equally fortunately, common sense had kicked in before he could be accused of workplace harassment. The trouble was, his social life had been moderated along with just about everything else as he’d neared the four-oh mark. He was out of practice.

He had seen her several times after that, and the less she did to call attention to her sexuality, the more intrigued he became. There was something challenging about a woman who went out of her way to downplay her feminine attractions. Made a man wonder what was under all the muted colors and understated styles. The lady was a challenge, and if there was one thing Will thrived on, it was challenge.

But not this kind of challenge.

He told himself it was probably something simple—maybe a minor midlife crisis. He’d made a policy of never mixing business with pleasure. In today’s litigious society, it simply wasn’t worth the risk of future embarrassment, awkwardness or worse. Even so, he’d been almost at the point of breaking his own rule and asking her out when Jack had moved in and staked a claim by whisking her up to the executive floor as his personal secretary.

Jack’s tastes had invariably run to leggy blondes in thigh-high skirts, with big boobs and big blond hair. The Foster woman was a marked improvement. Quelling his own disappointment, Will had gone out three nights in a row with three different women and—always the gentleman—had managed to conceal his boredom.

As for what Diana Foster had seen in Jack Wescott, that was easy. At fifty-eight, the wealthy oilman had been in peak physical condition until he’d dropped dead of a massive heart attack. It was widely known that wealth was among the world’s greatest aphrodisiacs, and Jack had been a practiced philanderer who enjoyed bragging about the notches on his bedpost.

At least he hadn’t bragged about his latest conquest. If he had, Will might have decked the man. After which, Will would have been forced to sell his stock, turn in his resignation and move out to his ranch a few years earlier than he’d planned to retire.

What he couldn’t understand now, after Jack’s death, was what the quietly elegant Ms. Foster had gained from the affair. She still drove the same elderly sedan, still wore the same inexpensive classic styles and—so far as he could tell—owned no jewelry other than pearl studs and the type of wristwatch that could be purchased at most drugstores.

Not that he’d paid any particular attention to her, once he’d realized she was having an affair with his business partner. For all he knew, Jack might’ve been planning to marry the woman, even though Jack had sworn he would never let himself be trapped into marriage again.

But, if that had been the case, surely he’d have had his lawyers drawing up a prenuptial agreement, and there’d been nothing like that in the works when he’d died. As a rule, Jack had even his mistresses sign a settlement agreement so that they couldn’t come back to haunt him. Dorian’s mother had signed one, but obviously Dorian didn’t consider the terms of the agreement to apply to him.

Waiting for the elevator, Will stroked the back of his neck, massaging away the tension that always seemed to settle there. Jack’s will, which had been read four days ago, had been simple and direct. Other than a few token gifts to his household staff, Sebastian had inherited everything the IRS didn’t claim.

As executor of Jack’s estate, Will was still trying to reconcile a few discrepancies in his personal accounts. Jack had been notoriously delinquent when it came to balancing his own checkbooks.

Nodding to the night security guard who let him out of the building, Will set off to walk the eleven blocks to his own apartment. Maybe fresh air would work a miracle. Maybe his headache would ease and the incomprehensible entries on Jack’s personal check stubs would miraculously begin to make sense.

And maybe he would quit obsessing on the quiet, elegant beauty who had begun to crop up in more than a few of his dreams.

On the long walk home, Will mulled over a few minor discrepancies he’d come across just today. While the business’s financial records were in excellent condition, thanks largely to his own hand on the controls, Jack’s personal affairs weren’t quite so tidy. In building the empire that bore his name, he had stepped on more than a few toes, cut more than a few corners and no doubt had paid off his share of politicians and predatory women. Which might account for the unexplained drafts for tens of thousands of dollars in the past few months.

Poor guy. He’d been warned more than once to tone down his lifestyle. Will had often heard him joke about having a few wild chickens come home to roost. One of them, Dorian Brady, already had.

How many more would there be?

Urged by the board to take over as president, Will had declined the honor. With Jack gone, he was now the senior partner, but getting himself mired any deeper in corporate crap wasn’t among his long-term plans for the future. Once he turned over his tenth-floor offices to the mandatory outside auditors, he would have to clear out Jack’s tower office to prepare for the new regime. Which meant he was probably going to need the help of Jack’s secretary. He didn’t know whether to dread it or look forward to it. All he knew was that the woman affected him in a way no woman had in nearly twenty years.

Midlife crisis?

Yeah…probably. And dammit, he didn’t have time for it now.

Shoulders hunched, the tall, lean Texan strode along the empty sidewalk. This time of night, traffic was light. The weather was unusually mild for February despite the wind and the threat of rain. If he finished up by Friday, maybe he could spend a couple of days out at the ranch.

Or maybe not. There was still a lot of sludge to wade through before the company could move ahead at full speed. For a business the size of Wescott Oil to be run like a mom and pop market was not only criminal, it was damn near impossible in this age of government regulations and demanding stockholders. But by bribing and threatening the right people, Jack had managed to do things his way right up to the end.

The end…

God, what a waste. At fifty-eight, he’d looked no older than Will himself did at forty-one, thanks to great tailor, a good barber, a personal trainer and a top-notch plastic surgeon. For a man who routinely managed to tick off half of the Texas legislature and buy off the rest, he’d been one hell of a guy. He was going to be missed.

While a scratchy recording of Fleetwood Mac flowed from a battered portable phonograph, Diana propped a bare foot up on her lap and carefully painted her big toenail a deep shade of coral. Tears ran a crooked trail down her face, not because she missed Jack, exactly, but because…

Well, because it was such a waste. Underneath his crazy suspicions and his domineering ways, he’d been a good man. In some ways. At least he’d been good to her when it mattered most. Her mother had had the very best care right up to the end, and if it meant giving herself—Diana refused to call it selling herself—to a man like Jack Wescott, then it was well worth the shame.

Or the guilt. Whatever she was feeling, it probably wasn’t grief, which was even more of a reason to feel guilty.

She screwed the cap on the bottle of nail polish, which she used only on her toes where it wouldn’t show, and grabbed a tissue to blow her nose. “Get over it, Foster,” she muttered. People said that all the time. Get over it. Deal with it.

And she would, she really would. She was nothing if not a realist. The thing was, she had never really wanted to be anyone’s lover, especially having grown up in a household where love was never a factor.

Her parents had been what she’d once heard referred to as “tie-dyed rebels for peace.” When the rebellion had lost its luster, her father had left his wife and daughter to “find himself.” Lila, her mother, had gone to work in the cosmetics department of a local discount store for minimum wages and no benefits other than a minuscule discount.

Her father had eventually come back—still lost—and taken a job selling paper products. Less than a month later he had gotten drunk, blacked both his wife’s eyes so she couldn’t go to work, and then left town again.

They’d been “flower children.” Their mottos: Make Love, Not War; If It Feels Good, Do It.

Growing up, Diana had rebelled against her parents’ entire generation. Eventually she might have ended up marrying some nice, dull man, the antithesis of her own father. Someone who would have been good with children and kind to pets. Someone who would, at least, be there for his family.

Jack hadn’t been a dull man, nor had he always been nice. And while she’d let herself believe at first that he wanted to marry her, that had never been in the cards. He had set out on a deliberate campaign to seduce her, and once he’d discovered her weakness, he’d succeeded.

And now Jack was dead and she would soon be back in the secretarial pool. Jack’s son Sebastian would be the new chairman, and Sebastian already had his own executive secretary, one who was more qualified for the position.

Diana’s mother had never reconciled herself to the fact that her only child—her little princess—had settled for a secretarial course instead of trying for a college scholarship. “But, honey, you’re so creative,” she’d exclaimed so often in her fade-away voice.

“You mean because I used to write those awful poems for your birthday and Mother’s Day? Mama, grow up. It’s about time somebody in this family did.”

That had been several years ago, before her mother had been diagnosed with cancer. Since then Diana had come a long way. She had found a job to help pay the bills and had ended up working for a man who had insisted on doing things in a way that would have probably driven most secretaries up the nearest wall. The system they’d worked out together had been somewhat unorthodox, but it had suited them both.

Well, she thought, sniffing and sighing heavily, that, too, was over. Done with. Fini. Period.

Period? Which reminded her of another possible problem….

But that was stress. Of course it was stress. They’d always been careful—almost always. Although Jack, for all his polished charm, could occasionally be demanding, impatient and insensitive.

But it was over now, and she could get on with her life. Diana stretched her leg and wiggled her newly polished toes. Nail polish had been her favorite treat as a little girl. Her mother would polish her toenails and tell her it was because she was a princess, only she couldn’t tell anyone. And they would look at each other and smile, and when her father came home, Diana would huddle in bed and listen to the awful fights and think, I’m a secret princess. As soon as I’m big enough, Mama and I will go find our real home, and Daddy can’t ever go there.

Daddy had been killed when she was fourteen. By then she’d known she was no princess but only the daughter of a disillusioned flower child who lacked the courage to break away from her abusive marriage to an ex-hippy. Diana remembered her father chiefly for his long absences and his vicious temper.

“Girl, you are a mess! Get it together!” she growled softly to herself.

And she was going to, she really was. It would be awkward returning to the secretarial pool after months of working on the executive floor. For one thing it was a world-class rumor mill, and she herself would be the focus of an uncomfortable amount of gossip.

But before she made any decision she was going to have to help Mr. William K. Bradford, the senior partner and chief financial officer, sort out the mess Jack had left behind. And wouldn’t you know, he’d turned out to be the man she’d plastered with melted chocolate ice cream.

Since then she’d tried to avoid him, hoping he would forget the incident, or at least forget who ruined what had to be a custom-tailored suit and a designer tie. Not to mention the white shirt. Chocolate stains were impossible to remove.

She could only hope he wouldn’t remember her. He’d been wearing sunglasses. Maybe some of the ice cream had spattered those, too, and he hadn’t seen her clearly.

The trouble was, she’d seen him. Had a good look at him, from his broad shoulders to his thick, dark hair and his wonderfully irregular features. What was there about certain men that made them so heartbreakingly attractive? There were probably thousands of men who were more handsome. Hundreds.

Dozens, at least. She didn’t lose any sleep over any of them, while the very thought of having to work in close contact with Will Bradford was enough to make her break out in a heat rash. She hadn’t exactly led a sheltered existence. She did know the facts of life. She simply didn’t know how to deal with a man who made her think wicked thoughts so soon after her mother had died and she’d broken off with Jack.

So much for disapproving of her parents’ early lifestyle. If It Feels Good, Do It.

She’d done it, and it hadn’t even felt particularly good.

Huddling in the lopsided recliner her mother had bought at a going-out-of-business sale, she thought some more about William Bradford. He struck her as the kind of man who lived his life by a set of ironclad rules. She liked that in a man. Purpose. Discipline. Order.

From now on, Diana vowed, she would make rules of her own, rule number one being that she was in sole control of Diana Foster. From this day forward she would take complete responsibility for her own life.

Will was the last to arrive for the weekly dinner meeting in one of the smaller private rooms at the Texas Cattleman’s Club, an exclusive establishment formed originally so that a few wealthy cattle barons and some of the early oilmen could escape from their wives for a night out. As years passed it had served as a convenient cover for a number of covert operations. Of the small group of close friends, all were ex-military and had been involved in any number of operations that never hit the news. Thank God things had been quiet on that front lately. With Jack’s unexpected death, Will had had enough on his mind without having to fly off at a moment’s notice to rescue some poor unfortunate who’d blundered into trouble.

Between missions, the club served as a fund-raising organization for various charities that had arisen as the small town of Royal doubled and tripled its size. Will was, unfortunately, a member of the club’s committee whose duty it was to sift through the dozens of applications and choose a worthy recipient for the funds raised by the annual charity ball. He’d just as soon divide the take equally among the charities, but tradition precluded such a simple solution.

After nodding to a few of the older members dozing over their Wall Street Journals in the cigar, brandy and wax-scented great room, Will opened the massive oak door and closed it quietly behind him. “Evening, gentleman,” he greeted.

“Man, you look like hell.” It was Jason, foreign advisor and CIA agent, the youngest of the group, who passed judgment on him.

Sebastian, Jack’s son and newly appointed CEO of Wescott Oil, looked as though he hadn’t slept in weeks. It was obvious his father’s death and the new responsibilities had taken their toll. Gamely he grinned. “Things are that bad in your neck of the woods, huh?”

“Not bad. Shall we say…disorganized? If your father had suspected an OPEC spy of trying to infiltrate the company to gather information, he might have devised a similar plan for throwing him off track. Anyone ordered yet? What are we having?”

Their tastes were as varied as the men themselves. Keith Owens, owner of a computer software company, was still studying the bill of fare. Robert Cole, private detective with an old-money background, usually ordered seafood.

Will chose steak, medium rare, with a baked potato, no sour cream and a salad, which he didn’t particularly want but which he ordered anyway because at his age a smart man started thinking about health and his own mortality.

Pity poor Jack hadn’t started earlier.

Will hadn’t had time to stop by the club in more than a week. Since every man present was the son, if not the grandson, of a former member, this group was the closest thing to family he was ever apt to have. He asked after each man individually, then took a sip of the single drink he allowed himself each evening and said, “Want to tell me what all the snickers were about when I walked in?”

“What snickers? Oh, you must mean the bet. Seb has the dubious honor of heading up this year’s gala, and he suggested that since we’re all aging bachelors, we place a bet on which one will still be standing alone by the end of the year. Whoever wins can have the consolation prize of choosing the beneficiary,” Rob explained.

Will looked from one man to the other. “You’re not serious. Hell, I outgrew that kind of thing in prep school.”

Jason, the youngest member of the group, enjoyed his playboy reputation enough to pick up the challenge. “Not that I’m particularly interested in game playing—” he was widely known for his games with the fairer sex “—but I’ll win this one in a walk-away.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you, old boy?”

Jason, his eyes alight with amusement, said, “Yeah, that about covers it.” It was widely known, as well, that Jason was allergic to marriage.

And while Will didn’t particularly want to win the consolation prize, marriage was definitely not in his future. Once had been enough.

“So, that’s settled,” Sebastian said, sounding vastly relieved. “Lets me off the hook.”

It occurred to Will that, under the circumstances, maybe one of the others should have taken over the task of heading up this year’s shindig. It was a daunting task at the best of times, and the man had just lost his father, after all.

“Next item on the agenda,” Keith Owens said around a mouthful of stuffed quail. “What about Dorian? Do we invite him to join the club?”

Sebastian abstained from commenting. Caution urged Will to suggest they not make any hasty decisions, but before he could voice the thought, Jason spoke up. “I vote we sit on it for a few weeks. All due respect, Seb, but we don’t really know this guy.”

After a brief discussion, it was decided to postpone making a decision. Will was relieved. Jason had razor-sharp instincts. Will trusted his instinct on most matters. By the time his dessert of fresh fruit compote was served, he was too tired to enjoy it. Shoving it across the table, he said, “Sorry, fellows, but if I don’t make it to bed in the next half hour, you’ll have to scrape me up off the street. Been a hell of a week.”

After handing the accounting books to the outside auditors, Will turned his full attention to Jack’s messy personal records. Will had already learned two disturbing things. First, that Diana Foster lacked the required qualifications for the position she’d been given. Second, that aside from a nice raise, she’d been the recipient of several large sums of money deposited to a checking account soon after she’d been promoted to the position of Jack’s executive secretary. Putting that together with a remark Jack had once made about Diana’s mother being ill, Will came to a conclusion that had set his blood to boiling.

It wasn’t the kind of thing he could come right out and ask: Did you sleep with Jack so that he would pay your mother’s medical expenses? Hell, he didn’t know her well enough to ask anything that personal. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to know the answer.

Oh, yeah, and there was a third thing, too. He learned that Diana, in a pair of black slacks, bending over an open carton on the floor, had a sweetly rounded bottom that could make a marble statue salivate.

On the way up to the tower office, Will reminded himself that only a few months ago Jack’s old secretary, Miss Lucy, had been put out to pasture, if not with a golden parachute, at least with a gold-plated umbrella. Shortly after that, Miss Foster had been yanked out of the secretarial pool and propelled upstairs to the executive suite.

Knowing the lady had sold herself to the highest bidder, Will felt slightly sick. She might not look the part, but she’d evidently become just one more in a long line of Jack’s women.

What was she, vamp or virgin?

Obviously not the latter.

Which didn’t change the fact that for the past few months, whenever they’d found themselves in the same elevator together he’d had to stare at the indicator buttons and think about something else. The ranch. His favorite horse. The chances of being trapped overnight in an elevator with Diana Foster.

None of which had helped. He had a feeling that in the pitch-dark depths of a West Virginia coal mine, he would be aware of her nearness. Aware that she had hair like a dark silk waterfall, eyes like melted chocolate and skin that looked cool as snow but hinted at banked fires underneath. If she wore perfume, it was not easily discernible. Instead there was an aura about her that reminded him of dark roses, satiny wood and fine wine.

Probably because he’d seen her on more than a few occasions in Jack’s walnut-paneled offices.

It was Saturday morning. Will and Diana had both come in to clear out the last of the personal items in Jack’s office so that the cleaning crew could do their job and Seb could call in the decorators. He managed to keep his mind on business for almost an hour until she turned, tape roller in hand, her dark hair brushing her shoulder. “Shall I label this box personal and put it with those others for Sebastian?”

“What’s in it? Oh, yeah—trophies, certificates, pictures…” Jack with several politicians. Jack with a couple of Hollywood types. Jack with his foot on the neck of a dead lion, and another eight-by-ten glossy of Jack with a dead blue marlin. “Yeah, go ahead. Here, I’ll move it for you.”

“Use your knees, not your back,” she warned in the voice that had come as something of a surprise the first time he’d ever heard it. Quiet, a little bit husky. The type of voice advertisers paid a fortune for, but without the fake seductiveness that was used to sell everything from potency pills to plumbing supplies.

“Huh?” Real intelligent, Bradford.

“To lift the box. Squat, don’t just bend over. Better yet, drag it like I did all the others.”

Will had a feeling Sebastian was going to want to change quite a few things now that he had the power. Father and son were nothing at all alike. They hadn’t gotten along particularly well, although each was brilliant in his own way.

“Yes, ma’am,” Will muttered, amused at Diana’s bossiness. Nevertheless, he bent his knees slightly, leaned over and lifted the box, which was filled with books, trophies and framed photographs. “Where?” he said with a grunt.

“There.” She pointed.

He set it up on top of the stack by the door and managed to resist grabbing his back. Masking his grimace with a smile, he said, “I could do with some lunch, how about you?”

Turning slowly, Diana surveyed the spacious tower office with its paneled walls, the walnut louvered shutters and the heavy, lined linen draperies. Not for Jack Wescott the usual preference for glass, leather and steel.

“How much more do we have to do? I cleaned out the records room and the bathroom.” A length of hair fell forward, and she brushed it back. That morning her heavy, straight brown hair had been confined in one of those twisted arrangements on the back of her head. He could have told her about hair like hers and the laws of gravity.

“Then that about does it,” he said. “Cleaning staff will be in tonight. They can take down the curtains and either toss ’em or send ’em out to be cleaned. They’ve been here for as long as I can remember.”

She touched the soft, sun-faded fabric the way a woman would. “I don’t think Jack ever even noticed them. I guess most men wouldn’t, but they’re sort of nice, aren’t they? In a subtle, understated kind of way.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” So are you, lady. In a subtle, understated kind of way.

Will made up his mind to give her the draperies once they came back from the cleaners. Unless her living quarters were a hell of a lot larger than his, he had no idea what she would do with all those yards of heavy, lined fabric. Slipcover her house, maybe.

Still, it eased his conscience, because as soon as they wound things up here, he’d already made up his mind to offer her a bonus and encourage her to leave town. The last thing poor Seb needed after dealing with the sudden death of his father and the appearance of an illegitimate half brother was to have to deal with any possible demands from his father’s ex-mistress.

After washing up in the luxurious washroom, they locked the door and crossed the hall to the elevators. Dorian Brady and two clerks from the computer department got on at the floor below. Will nodded to Dorian. He was still withholding judgment when it came to Jack’s by-blow. There was something about him—almost a watchfulness—that raised a few red flags.

But then, that was probably because Seb was Will’s friend, and this guy, whatever his credentials, was an interloper.

As the elevator sped silently down to the lobby, Diana said, “What about the boxes of files I took home with me? Is there any hurry about going through them?”

The doors opened soundlessly, and the small group filed out but lingered nearby. Will, noticing the way Dorian was eyeing his late-father’s secretary, moved to block his view as they crossed the plush lobby. If any man was going to ogle the woman, it wasn’t going to be some shifty-eyed kid in a flashy two-toned suit and a bolo tie.

Not until they were outside did he answer her question. “It’s all personal stuff, isn’t it? Nothing to do with the estate?”

“The boxes? As far as I know.”

“Then let’s let it ride, okay? What do say we stop by the Royal for some chili and coconut pie?” He made the offer only because he’d kept her long past lunch time. All he really wanted to do was go home, watch headline news and sleep for the next twenty-four hours.

Well, maybe not all… “Or if you’d rather, we could drive over to Claire’s.”

And then, damned if she didn’t start crying, right there in broad daylight.

Thank God the Saturday-morning traffic was light.

Well, hell…

Two

They ate at the Royal Diner. Diana ordered the chili and a glass of milk to douse the fire. She didn’t talk much, but then, Will wasn’t used to having conversation with his meals unless he ate at the club. He was still trying to figure out why she’d started crying, but when he’d asked her, she’d just shaken her head.

Women.

At least she’d stopped crying as suddenly as she’d started. Claimed dust had blown in her eye.

Sure it had.

“World-class coconut pie,” he said, forking up the last bite from his plate. “Want to take a slice home with you—or maybe a whole pie?”

Another thing about her that got to him was her smile. It started with a crinkling of the eyes, tweaked the corners of her lips and then it was gone, almost making a man wonder if he’d only imagined it.

“No, but thank you. I’d better get home before the rain starts again. It doesn’t rain often around here, but once it starts, it can make up for lost time.”

“Weather’s been crazy everywhere these past few years.”

So Will drove her back to the office building and left her at her car. Earlier that morning he’d carried down a box of her personal belongings. A small box. Evidently, she traveled light. He’d found himself wondering what was in it. Her own personal photographs? Family? A boyfriend? He doubted that, under the circumstances.

He hardly knew her, but if he had to guess, he’d say she wasn’t the type of woman to spread her personal relics around for public view.

But then, if he’d had to guess, he would never have pegged her for one of Jack’s conquests, either.

When she started to close her car door, he held it open and leaned down. “You’re sure you’re all right, Diana? You look a little washed out.”

“Thanks,” she said, and shot him another one of her quirky smiles. “Nothing a little blusher won’t take care of, I hope.”

Will watched her as she drove away in an eighties model sedan that was just one of the mysteries about Diana Foster that plagued him. She had a face that could easily be called patrician. A body that was tall, almost too lean, yet definitely, temptingly feminine. She wore outfits that could be bought at any discount store, yet he could easily imagine her striding down a runway wearing one of those slinky, transparent, cut-down-to-here-and-up-to-there outfits designed to raise a man’s blood pressure into the danger zone.

She could do that wearing black polyester slacks, a cotton pullover sweater and a battered twill raincoat.

Watching her drive off, swerving to avoid the deepest puddles, he visualized her mouth. She hadn’t bothered to replace the lipstick she’d eaten off with her chili.

Because she’d forgotten?

Or because he wasn’t worth the bother?

If she had any idea how vulnerable her naked lips looked, she’d have layered it on with a roller.

Vulnerable?

Where the hell had that come from? Tack, his ranch manager would have told him he’d been smoking too much locoweed.

One thing for sure—once the transition at work was completed, he was going to hightail it out to the ranch, spend a couple of weeks working with his stock, and then maybe go fishing. Maybe Baja. Maybe even the Outer Banks. Somewhere where nobody had ever heard of Wescott Oil.

It was still fairly early. Things were moving along faster than she’d expected at the office, thanks to Will Bradford’s efficiency. The rest could probably be accomplished in a few days. Mostly they had worked on weekends, to avoid interference by curious staff members eager to see what changes would be made, not only to the decor but to the operations. Sebastian and his father had never seen eye-to-eye on many things.

Pulling out of the employees’ parking lot, Diana imagined the big mug of cocoa she would have as soon as she got home. Since earliest childhood it had been her favorite comfort food, and, for no reason at all, she felt in sudden need of comfort. Probably this crazy weather. The temperature had dropped since they’d left the diner. A gust of wind sent a plastic bag and a large paper cup, complete with lid and straw, scurrying across the street in front of her car, distracting her from her thoughts momentarily.

This was the kind of weather when she would like nothing better than to curl up with a good book and alternately read and doze for the next twelve hours.

She yawned. Stress again. Too many decisions to be made.

What she should do was go through those boxes Jack had sent home with her, as if he’d had some sort of premonition. For all she knew, they contained Sebastian’s baby pictures and report cards. Or maybe love letters from all the women who had gone before her. She’d heard the whispers before she’d ever met the man.

But she was simply too tired tonight. Ever since Jack had died, two months ago, she’d been trying to make plans for the future. The trouble was she couldn’t seem to stay awake long enough to eat, much less to decide whether or not to move back to the secretarial pool at Wescott or pack up, leave town and look for another job in a new town where she didn’t know a soul.

Lately, all she seemed able to do was weep and sleep. Maybe she needed vitamins.

Without thinking, she pulled into the parking lot outside the small walk-in clinic she had passed every day on her way to work. There was probably nothing wrong with her that a handful of vitamins and a good night’s sleep wouldn’t cure, but why take chances? She needed to recover her energy if she was going to get through these next few days and decide on her future. Preventive medicine couldn’t prevent everything, but she was still a firm believer in taking control. Of her health, her life—everything. It wouldn’t hurt to have a professional check her out while she still had her company insurance, in case she decided to move on.

Little more than an hour later Diana walked out in a daze, oblivious to the rain that pounded down on her bare head. Oblivious to the wind that whipped her tan trench coat around her legs.

Pregnant?

Impossible!

Impossible but true. Three months, as far as Dr. Woodbury could determine without further tests. “Does it have to go on my record?” Diana had asked the nurse, thinking of all the embarrassing questions that could, and probably would, be asked. She didn’t know how many people had guessed about her and Jack—they’d both gone out of their way to be discreet, but in a town like Royal, secrets had a way of leaking out.

“Not if you don’t intend to use your insurance.”

“Oh. Well, could I just pay cash today and think about it?” With any luck, she could be in another town, settled in another job before she needed further medical attention.

Was pregnancy considered a preexisting condition?

Diana had a feeling the nurse was good at reading between the lines. “We can work it out any way that suits you, hon. Stop by the window and you can either pay today or we’ll bill you. Here, you’ll want to read these pamphlets. They tell you what to expect at which stage. Right now it’s one thing, tomorrow it might be something else. We’ll make you an appointment for six weeks, shall we?”

Diana nodded, knowing she wouldn’t be in Royal in another six weeks. This changed everything. Leaving was no longer an option, it was imperative. Once the pregnancy began to show and people put two and two together and realized whose baby she was carrying, things would be awkward, to say the least.

A baby.

To think she’d vowed to take control of her own life from here on out. Evidently, she hadn’t made the decision soon enough. She had always tried to be careful, but there had been that one time…. Jack had never been known for his patience. One time was all it took.

Out on the sidewalk she took a deep breath and tried to quell the rising panic by reminding herself that she’d always been the most levelheaded member of her family. The only levelheaded member.

After her father had died, her mother had fallen apart. Blamed herself and wept endlessly, claiming she hadn’t been a good enough wife. As much as she hated to admit it now, Diana had lost patience with her mother more than once. She had honestly thought, though, that if they moved to a new locale, her mother might perk up and take an interest in life again.

So they’d moved to Royal, Texas, a place she’d heard mentioned on the news one night, and she’d got a job as a secretary at Wescott Oil.

Instead of perking up, Lila Foster’s depression had grown worse, until Diana had insisted she undergo a complete examination to rule out any physical cause for her lethargy. It was only then that her mother had been diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer.

Frantic, Diana had been arguing with the insurance department at Wescott the day she’d met Jack Wescott, founder and chief shareholder of Wescott Oil.

“Whoa, little lady,” he’d said, clasping her by the arms as she’d backed out the door, still yelling, just as he was entering the building. He had held her a moment too long, staring at her angry tears, then he’d asked her name.

A week later she’d been moved up to the executive floors, where Jack, who was old enough to be her father, had begun a determined assault on her heart.

At least, she’d thought at the time it was her heart. Frantic with worry, she’d made mistake after mistake. It was a wonder she hadn’t been fired, but instead Jack had given her a raise and stepped up his courtship, offering her jewelry, a car, even a house.

It was when she’d burst into tears and poured out her story that he’d offered the one thing she hadn’t been able to refuse. The finest care available for her mother.

By the time her mother had died, Diana had been spending her days at the hospital and at least three nights a week with Jack at his lake cabin. Numbly, she’d gone through the motions of sex, often crying before it was over.

If he’d been brutal, she could almost have borne it better, but instead he’d been tender. They hadn’t been in love, but the relationship they’d shared had had value to him. She had an idea she was the only one who had realized it, but in his own way, Jack had been as lonely as she was. She had broken it off after her mother’s death. He’d seemed to understand.

And now she was going to have his baby. Thank goodness no one knew about it. The sooner she left town, the better.

The next morning Diana lay in bed, trying to find the energy to get up. She hadn’t accomplished a single thing when she’d gotten home from the clinic the day before. Instead she’d crashed on the miserable sofa with a sprung spring stabbing her in the ribs. She had slept, woken up and eaten half a box of vanilla wafers and then slept some more. That night she had lain awake for hours, trying to organize her life into some workable pattern.

A baby. Dear Lord, she couldn’t even manage to make decisions for herself. How could she ever take care of a baby?

By morning the rain had ended, but the temperature had plummeted still further. She crawled out of bed shivering, thought about breakfast and decided against it—too many vanilla wafers in the middle of the night could do that to a woman. Instead she dressed in her warmest slacks and a turtleneck sweater and headed for the office. There was a certain security in habit. Time to start breaking old habits and forming new ones, Diana reminded herself, only not quite yet. Not today.

Now, eleven stories up in the tower office where she’d worked for the past few months, Diana gazed out the undraped windows, watching as men in overcoats and wool-lined denim jackets moved briskly along the sidewalks below. Limousines and pickup trucks moved sedately along Royal’s Main Street. Women wearing fur coats and custom-made boots dashed from heated cars to heated churches.

Winter came in several varieties in Texas. Wet and cold was the worst. Silently she vowed that the next time she relocated, it would be to a place where the seasons were more temperate. She’d had enough of extremes.

Will, too, was leaning against a windowsill. He’d been there when she’d come in, and she’d apologized for no logical reason for being late. Neither of them had been obligated to come in today. There wasn’t that much more to do.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Well, she did, of course…. “I’ve always been a morning person.”

“Not a problem. I wasn’t expecting you, anyway. There’s nothing much more to be done here.”

The cleaning crew had already started. The curtains were gone, the carpet people would be in next. Diana was surprised that Will was there at all, but then, his own office was probably overrun with auditors.

“You’re right.” She sighed, marveling at how drastically life had changed for a little girl who had once depended on toenail polish for her identity.

Feeling his eyes on her, she glanced up, wondering at the fleeting expression of…what? Interest? She’d known for days that he was curious about her. The trouble was, she’d been just as curious—just as interested in him, even before that. What woman wouldn’t be?

But anything more than the business relationship they had cautiously established was out of the question. If she’d learned one lesson it was the value of separating business from personal life. By now everyone must have guessed why the newest hired secretary in the pool had been yanked upstairs to work for the boss.

Will must certainly have guessed. Avoiding his look, she scuffed the toe of her loafers over an ink stain on the carpet under the edge of Jack’s desk. “I hope the cleaners can get it out. But then, Sebastian…” She didn’t know him personally, but for now there was only one Mr. Wescott at Wescott Oil, and that was still Jack. “He’ll probably want to have the whole place recarpeted.”

Ignoring her remark, Will said, “What would you say to transferring to the Houston offices?”

She felt behind her for a chair. As much as she’d been thinking about relocating—especially now that she knew about the baby—the one thing she hadn’t considered was a transfer. “You mean go on working for Wescott Oil?”

He nodded. The way he was studying her made her wonder if she’d remembered to floss her teeth before she’d dashed out that morning. Lately she’d been feeling so awful it was all she could do to get out of bed. She still felt queasy, probably from skipping breakfast.

Or maybe not.

“You don’t have any family here, as I understand it. No…close relationships?”

He had to have suspected what had been going on. The two men had been friends for years, according to Jack. Besides, as CFO, he must have known about the money Jack had given her to pay her mother’s bills, even though she was almost certain it had come out of Jack’s personal account.

Had Sebastian known?

How utterly embarrassing. Houston might not be far enough away if everyone in town knew about her relationship with the Wescott of Wescott Oil.

Sebastian and her baby would be half brothers. And half brother to the new man in the computer division, Dorian Brady. According to the grapevine, he’d been another of Jack’s mistakes.

Diana took three deep, slow breaths. It didn’t help. She swallowed a sudden surge of nausea. Things were getting entirely too complicated. If Sebastian had any idea she was pregnant with Jack’s baby, would he try to take it away from her? Could he?

He was certainly in a better position to take care of a child than she was. Hadn’t he taken in his illegitimate half brother, Dorian?

If she’d had to have an affair, why couldn’t it have been with an ordinary man instead of a man who could reach out from the grave and steal her baby from her?

But, of course, an ordinary man would never have been able to do what Jack had done for her mother.

Will moved away from the window, flexing his broad shoulders. Even looking as if she’d swallowed a fly, the lady was a major distraction. “We’ve got everything under control here. Why don’t you take off for a few days. Think over what I said about transferring to Houston and give me your answer next week, all right?”

He watched the last dregs of color fade from her face and wondered what the devil he’d said to cause her to look as if she’d lost her last friend in the world.

Suddenly she turned and rushed into the private bathroom Jack had recently had fitted out with a hot tub and a large screen TV. Sounds of retching came clearly through the door, which had bounced open when she’d slammed it behind her.

“Miss Foster? Diana? Are you okay?”

Come to think of it, she’d looked sort of shaky every morning they’d worked together. No matter what she’d said about being a morning person, some women simply weren’t at their best early in the day.

She was on her knees, struggling to get to her feet when he let himself in. “Diana? Look, if you need to go home, I’ll drive you, all right? You’re obviously in no shape to drive yourself.”

She turned to him then. Big brown eyes, looking like chestnuts in the snow. “Yes, I am,” she said, swallowing hard. “I’m just fine.”

Will dampened a towel and handed it to her, and she held it to her face for a moment. A long moment. He was still standing there, feeling acutely uncomfortable, when she looked up at him again.

“If I transfer to Houston, I’d still have my company insurance, wouldn’t I?”

“Insurance? Yeah, sure. Want to tell me why that’s so important?”

She stared at him, abject misery in every line of her slender body, and the answer suddenly blindsided him. “Oh, hell. You’re pregnant, aren’t you?”

To her credit, she didn’t try to lie. “Just barely.”

“Just barely? Just a little bit pregnant?”

“Look, it’s not a problem. I mean, I can go on working for months once my hormones settle down, according to—well, the experts.”

“And which experts would that be?”

She shook her head, reached behind her to put down the lid, then sat on the commode. Will sat on the edge of the monstrous hot tub with the gold-plated faucets and the mini refrigerator within easy reach. He wondered if Diana and Jack had ever used it together.

“It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t concern you or Wescott Oil or anyone else but me. I paid cash at the clinic. And Houston’s fine. How soon can I transfer?”

“Whoa, hang on a minute. This changes things.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

She was making an effort to conceal it, but the lady was scared out of her penny loafers. She was shivering, and the temperature was somewhere in the low seventies.

“Hot tea? Isn’t that the usual prescription? I’ll make some tea and see if I can find some crackers.”

“No, that’s…” Her voice trailed off, and she nodded weakly. “A cola? Something carbonated?”

So he led her back into the office and settled her in the most comfortable chair. She looked lost. Vulnerable. He didn’t think she’d appreciate being told as much, so he poured a freshly opened soda over ice and waited for it to fizz down while he thought of the best course of action.

Under the circumstances there was no best course of action. All the same, he knew what he had to do.

“Is it Jack’s?” He was pretty sure it was, but he was a firm believer in covering all the bases.

“That doesn’t concern you.” She met his eyes with a miserable but unwavering look that was sheer bravado.

The baby was Jack’s. Otherwise, she would have denied it. He’d come to recognize a basic honesty about the woman in the brief time they’d been working together. It was just one of too many things about her that drove him a little crazy. One minute he’d be thinking of her as just another in a long line of Jack’s women. The next, he’d be looking at her as the innocent victim of a lecherous jerk who knew exactly which button to push when he wanted something.

Or someone.

For years Will had been dealing with the untidy loose ends left by his hardheaded, heedless friend. Ladies who claimed Jack had promised to marry them, when Will knew damned well the man had never promised any such thing. Jack had been married once, to Sebastian’s mother. That had been before Will’s time. Will hadn’t asked about it, and Jack had never volunteered any information. Neither had Sebastian.

As for his long string of alliances, most lasting no more than a few months, Jack usually made the women sign releases before he even took them to bed. He hadn’t gotten where he was by being careless about minor details.

One woman claimed he’d given her a house in Midland but had forgotten to give over the deed. Jack had been dead only three days when she’d come barreling up to the top floor to demand that deed.

Will, still in shock himself, had taken the time to look into the matter and discovered that his reckless friend had given her a one-year lease on a tract house. As the lease still had seven months to run, he’d let it stand.

No woman, to his knowledge, had ever come forth claiming to be pregnant with a little Wescott heir, though it was possible that more than one had found herself in that condition. As a rule Jack paid his women off and hustled them out of town if there was the slightest possibility of that happening.

Matter of fact, this woman hadn’t made the claim, either. Which was only one of the reasons why Will decided to clean up one last mess his untidy friend had left behind. He wasn’t sure Diana could handle it financially—knew damned well she couldn’t handle it emotionally if today was an example.

“Feeling better now? Look, don’t worry about the insurance. If I set the wheels in motion right away, we can be married within the week.”

Her jaw fell. It was a delicate jaw, one he’d like to cup with his hand, but this was hardly the time. “I’m talking a business arrangement, Diana. I have a pretty good idea of your resources—” At her look of indignation, he said, “Yeah, I know, I had no right, but you see, one of the trails I had to follow to unravel Jack’s financial affairs led directly to your bank account. I finally figured it out with a little research.” Not to mention recalling a few of Jack’s insensitive remarks that Will had only recently put into context.

She was breathing too fast. There was an angry spark in her eyes that he’d as soon not have to deal with. But determined to settle things before she split, he plowed ahead.

“Look, it makes sense as a purely business arrangement. I’m unattached. You’re unattached. You need something that I can offer.”

“Fine.” She crossed her arms over her chest—breasts. Uh-uh, he preferred to think of the area as a chest. “What do you need, Mr. Bradford? That is, what would you get out of it?”

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