Two different worlds...

United by a baby!

In this Manhattan Babies story, when billionaire Jacob McCallan discovers Avery Novak—the woman he shared such amazing passion with—is pregnant, he insists on being there for his child. But fiercely independent Avery won’t put her trust in Jake easily. Will a trip to romantic Paris and getting to know the man behind the money make Avery realize they could be a proper family after all?

SUSAN MEIER is the author of over fifty books for Mills & Boon. The Tycoon’s Secret Daughter was a Romance Writers of America RITA® Award finalist, and Nanny for the Millionaire’s Twins won the Book Buyers’ Best award and was a finalist in the National Readers’ Choice awards. She is married and has three children. One of eleven children herself, she loves to write about the complexity of families and totally believes in the power of love.

Also by Susan Meier

A Mistletoe Kiss with the Boss

The Boss’s Fake Fiancée

The Spanish Millionaire’s Runaway Bride

The Princes of Xaviera miniseries

Pregnant with a Royal Baby!

Wedded for His Royal Duty

Manhattan Babies miniseries

Carrying the Billionaire’s Baby

And look out for the next book

Coming soon

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

Carrying the Billionaire’s Baby

Susan Meier

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-07794-1

CARRYING THE BILLIONAIRE’S BABY

© 2018 Linda Susan Meier

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Version: 2020-03-02

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For my friend, Di.

My partner in crime on the golf course.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

JACOB MCCALLAN STRODE down the quiet hall of Waters, Waters and Montgomery—the law firm employed by his family—with tall, lanky Pete Waters, senior partner.

“So, how’s your mother holding up?”

Jake glanced at Pete, not surprised he’d asked. His father had died five months before and everyone was worried about his mom. “She’s working to pull herself together. Some days are better than others.”

“Rumor has it she headed the last board of directors meeting.”

Jake grimaced. Nobody was supposed to know about that, but Pete had sources everywhere. Jake chose his words carefully. “She tried.”

“Tried?”

“It was no big deal. She walked into the meeting saying she wasn’t ready to be put out to pasture and would assume Dad’s role as chairman of the board. I took her out of the conference room and privately told her that the corporate bylaws name the CEO as acting chairman.”

“You.”

He nodded. “Me. I told her that if we went against the bylaws, we risked being sued by shareholders.”

“How’d she take it?”

“She was a bit confused. A bit hurt. I think she believed taking over as chairman would give her something to do now that Dad’s gone.”

Pete took a long, slow breath and blew it out in a gust. “That’s rough.”

Painter’s scaffolding crowded the end of the private corridor to Pete’s office. He pointed to the right. “We’ll go the long way.”

The “long way” took them past cubicles filled with workers on the phone or frantically typing on computer keyboards, then a file room. A wall of windows exposed rows of files—thinner than they had been before most things were stored on computers—and five copy machines.

Jake frowned and slowed his steps. Was that Avery Novak standing in front of one of those copy machines?

He couldn’t really tell because the tall redhead’s back was to him. But a man didn’t forget silky hair long enough to tickle his chest when she straddled him.

He told himself to keep walking. He and Avery had had a short fling, which she’d mercifully broken off after three weeks. They’d been dynamite in bed. But out of bed? They would have done nothing but argue about politics and principles if Jake had ever risen to any of her bait. The woman was ridiculously headstrong, and she didn’t like rich people.

No matter how hot they were together, he had looked down the board and seen a future filled with her being critical of his privileged lifestyle, and in general acting as if he were Marie Antoinette and she was a beleaguered peasant. His only regret was that he hadn’t been the one to break it off.

Jake and Pete were just about at the end of the long glass wall, when she turned. Her huge green eyes widened. Her mouth fell open and she quickly lowered the file she held to her stomach. But it was too late. He’d seen the baby bump.

Baby bump!

She had to be at least five months pregnant. Maybe six.

Oh, God... Six?

That took them back to February—when they were dating.

That could be his baby. His child.

He glanced at Avery again. Her figure hadn’t changed much except for the baby bump, yet she’d looked more womanly, more attractive. He remembered her soapy and sexy in the shower, added the baby bump to the naked body he knew so well, and something raw and emotional ripped through him. Stronger than lust, more profound than awe that they’d created a child, the feeling rendered him speechless. The reality that that “bump” could be his child slammed into him like an eighteen-wheeler, mostly because his father had been a terrible parent. He had no idea how a good dad behaved. What a good dad did—

But, no. It couldn’t be his child. Avery would have told him. Wouldn’t she?

He and Pete finally walked past the file room. Pete still chatted on about Jake’s mother. “I understand that she’s on shaky emotional ground. But you really have to hold the line with her coming into the business and trying to do things.”

“Actually, I’m thinking of giving her a job.”

“What?” Pete stopped walking.

Jake stopped too. “She lost her husband.” A movement from the file room caught his eye and he glanced up in time to see Avery racing away. His throat constricted. His gut clenched. Why run away from him if that wasn’t his child?

Embarrassment?

Maybe.

Had to be.

She was probably embarrassed she’d found another man and gotten pregnant so soon after him. Because it couldn’t be his baby...

Otherwise she would have told him.

He faced Pete. “Mom’s grieving. She’s searching for meaning in her life. Trying to be chairman of the board proves she wants something to do. Why not give her something?”

“Because she’s been a socialite for forty years and doesn’t have any skills?” Pete sighed. “Jake, giving her a job is only going to make your life difficult. There are better ways to handle her grief than having her underfoot.”

“I’m not sure I agree. Maybe she has skills we don’t know about? Or maybe she won’t even want a job? At least if I ask, she’ll feel wanted.”

“I think you’ll be sorry.”

“Perhaps. But I think I should ask. She’s leaving today for a week in Paris. I thought if I offered her something, it would perk her up enough that her friends could snap her out of her depression.”

“You’re sure she’s going?”

“She and her girlfriends have been spending the first week of September in Paris for decades.” He took a brief glance up the hall, but Avery was gone. “She’ll recognize she needs to be with her friends and go. Besides, there’s a charity ball over the weekend that I’m attending this year. She won’t miss my first time there and a chance to introduce me to her friends.”

“What if she jumps on your job offer and doesn’t care about going to the event?”

“A condition of her coming to work for us will be that she takes the week in Paris first.”

Pete shrugged as if grudgingly agreeing with Jake’s decision.

They reached Pete’s office and Jake took one final glance up the hall. He didn’t see Avery, but his chest tightened anyway.

As Pete droned on about fulfilling the bequests in his dad’s will, Jake realized three things. First, Avery was independent enough that she could consider it her right not to tell him about his own child. Second, if that baby really was his, he was in trouble. He had no idea how to be a parent and he would need all the time he could get to figure it out before the baby was born. Which meant, number three, he was going to have to confront her.

Today.

* * *

Avery didn’t get home until after nine that night. Law firm associates did all the paperwork and the bulk of the legwork on most cases. Before she’d gotten pregnant, she’d fought for the extra work. She sat in on every meeting they’d permit her to attend, and campaigned to be a part of every important case. She had a plan, with big goals, and had only allowed herself five years to get the experience she would need to start her own law firm back home in Pennsylvania. She’d had to cram in everything she could.

Then she’d started hooking up with Jake. It was wrong. From day one, she’d known it was wrong. Her dad had gone to jail for something he hadn’t done because a rich employer had used his money and influence to ride roughshod over the system, and her dad couldn’t afford high-priced counsel to fight him. That was why she’d become a lawyer—to be a voice for people who couldn’t pay five-hundred dollars an hour to defend themselves from something they hadn’t done. She couldn’t date someone just like the guy who’d sent her dad to prison.

No matter how sexy Jake was, an undercurrent of privilege ran through his life. Riding in his limos, taking his helicopter to Maine for lobster, sleeping in a penthouse monitored by security guards only reminded her that people like Jake didn’t know a damned thing about real life, about suffering and struggle...about being normal.

She didn’t want her baby getting lost in the shuffle of drivers, maids and nannies, any more than she wanted her little girl or boy growing up thinking money somehow made her better, even as he or she stayed behind a wall of bodyguards, rode in bulletproof limos and lived with the threat of being kidnapped.

She also didn’t want to risk the consequences if Jake found out her dad was an ex-con. He could demand that she stay in New York—away from her dad—or even try to take the baby. Then she’d have no way of shielding her child from the craziness of the McCallan life.

So, she’d made the decision not to tell Jake she was pregnant to protect her child. Immediately, relief had coursed through her. Joy at becoming a mom had blossomed. With Jake out of the picture, she was ready to become a parent. Sure, it changed her plans a bit. She’d be returning to Pennsylvania two years sooner than she’d thought, and without sufficient experience, but she’d adapt. She wanted this baby enough that she’d change her life any way necessary.

She kicked off her subway shoes, tossed her briefcase on a chair and headed to her bedroom, but her doorbell rang.

Closing her eyes in misery, she muttered, “Damn it.”

She could ignore the bell, but she had a sneaking suspicion Jake McCallan had been sitting in a limo somewhere down the street from her building, waiting for her to come home. He’d seen her that morning. Seen the baby bump. Stickler for detail that he was, he’d undoubtedly done the math.

The bell rang again.

She headed for the door, shaking off her fears. Lawyers planned for all contingencies. Her first choice might have been not to tell him, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have a backup plan, a Plan B. He was a super-stuffy aristocrat, who wouldn’t want a crying child in his world. All she had to do was remind him that a baby didn’t fit into his well-ordered life and he’d back off.

Wondering how such a serious, stuffy guy could be so good in bed, she walked to the door and opened it.

“Jake. How nice to see you.”

It was nice to see him. He had black hair cut short to be neat, but strands poked out, making him look sexy and interesting. His solemn blue eyes always made her want to tell him a joke. But his body was a work of art. He could be an advertisement for the gym. Going three days a week had virtually turned him into a god. And the sex? Amazing. Just thinking about it made her weak-kneed and breathless.

He pointed at her stomach. “That’s my baby, isn’t it?”

She opened the door a little wider, urging him inside. “Nothing like a little small talk to warm up a room.”

He stayed right where he stood. “There’s no point to small talk. We have nothing to say to each other, except to discuss whether you’re keeping my child from me.”

“I’m not. Technically, I’m keeping a pregnancy from you.”

He cursed.

“See? This is exactly why I didn’t tell you!” She caught his arm and dragged him inside, leading him to one of the two teal-and-white trellis-print club chairs in front of her marble tile fireplace. Though the legs that carried her across the dark hardwood floors were extremely tired, she walked into the kitchen and took a glass from the first white cabinet then filled it at the sink in the center island. Bringing it into her living room, she said, “I knew you’d freak.”

He took the water. “I’m not freaking. I’m in shock. You’ve known about this for months. I just found out today—and only because I ran into you. Not because you told me.”

“Okay,” she soothed, sitting on the white sofa across from him, keeping control of the conversation. She had to be calm, rational and appeal to his love of order in his life.

“What do you want to know?”

He looked up at her, his gorgeous blue eyes serious, direct. “How?”

She laughed. “I think you pretty much know the basics of how babies are made.”

“No. How did you get pregnant? You told me you were on the pill.”

The insinuation that the pregnancy was her fault rattled through her like an angry wind, but she gave him a little leeway because he was still processing all this.

“My doctor blamed the antibiotic she gave me for bronchitis. You and I met—” At a coffee shop on Valentine’s Day, both dateless and treating themselves to a latte. They recognized each other from the law firm and had an impromptu dinner where he was just so charming and sexy they’d ended up in bed. “—when the bronchitis was all but gone from my lungs.” She shrugged. “But while I was celebrating feeling better, I was also finishing up the meds and forgot the antibiotic’s effect on birth control.”

He set his untouched water on one of the coasters she had on the glass coffee table by the club chair. “I never thought to ask about antibiotics.”

Her heart did a crazy little flip. Every time she was ready to write him off as sanctimonious, he’d do something like that. Something that would make her wonder if deep down he was fair. But she knew better. A man with enough money to buy his way into or out of anything had no reason to look at the other side of a situation.

Still, he hadn’t blamed her for the pregnancy, so she could go back to Plan B, remind him of how much trouble a baby could be and let him bow out gracefully.

“My goal had always been to get a job at a big law firm and buy a nice condo that would go up in value as I paid down the mortgage.”

His earnest blue eyes stayed on her face, as he waited for her to explain why she was rehashing things he already knew.

She cleared her throat. “What I didn’t tell you was, I’d made that plan so that I could get tons of experience and learn from some of the best lawyers in the world before I sold the condo for a profit and returned to Pennsylvania to start my own law firm.”

“Oh.”

She wasn’t surprised that she’d stunned him. Every damned time they’d gone out she’d said or done something that raised his eyebrows or caused him to frown. Their problem wasn’t merely a case of a middle-class woman with an upper-class man. They were opposites in just about every way.

“I didn’t really keep that from you.”

“Like you didn’t really keep the pregnancy from me?”

She sighed. “We dated for three weeks. There’s no law that says I had to tell you my plans for the future.”

“So, you weren’t seriously dating me. What was I? Beefcake?”

The way he said it, with his calm, poised tone, as if he didn’t realize how funny he sounded, made her laugh.

He glared at her. “No. Come on. I’m curious. Did you just go out with me because we were good in bed?”

“You were pretty good.”

He cursed and rose from the teal chair to pace. “Seriously!”

“You do realize another man would be so damned complimented by that he’d probably glow in the dark.”

“I’m not like most men.”

No kidding. “Okay. Why did you continue to ask me out when we both realized on our third date that we weren’t compatible?”

He took a patient breath, but ran the fingers of both hands through his hair. A gesture she’d never seen. She pulled back a bit. The last thing she wanted to do was anger one of the richest men in New York City when she didn’t have a leg to stand on to keep their baby from him. Her moving to Pennsylvania without telling him would have been the easiest thing for both of them. But now that he knew, convincing him he didn’t want to be part of this baby’s life was her best option. She’d never do that if they continued to argue over pointless things.

“Anyway,” Avery said, bringing them back to the real discussion. “My life plan has been altered a bit. With my down payment on this place and the extra I’ve put on the mortgage every month, not to mention the increase in real estate values, I can sell the condo early and still make a profit. Then once I pass the Pennsylvania bar, I can start my own firm there.”

“If you wanted your own law firm or even to jump the ranks of Waters, Waters and Montgomery, all you had to do was say the word.”

She gaped at him. “Really? You think it would be okay for me to jump over the heads of lawyers who know ten times what I know? To be made partner before them because my ex is their biggest client?”

He drew a breath and expelled it quickly. “So, you’re really leaving?”

Another thing he had a habit of doing was not answering her questions, but changing the subject so they wouldn’t argue. This time she appreciated his stopping them from going down another useless road, so she let that slide too.

“Well, I’m not packing up and heading out tomorrow. My doctor is here in New York. I plan to have the baby here. Plus, I have to sell the condo. And I do need the experience I’m getting at Waters, Waters and Montgomery. But eventually I have to go.”

“And you expect me to be okay with that?” When he faced her, his sapphire eyes had gone from serious to furious. “You think I don’t have rights, options?”

Fear raced through her, but she calmed it. This was the most rational man on the planet. If she stayed neutral, he’d stay neutral. If she set out her plan logically, especially highlighting how he benefited from it, he would follow it.

“Okay, let’s start this over again. I am pregnant. The baby is yours. I’ve had the goal since high school to earn a law degree, get some experience in New York City and then return to Pennsylvania to start my own law firm. The baby doesn’t stop that plan. Yes, I have to take the Pennsylvania bar exam and, yes, I will have to get a job at another law firm in Pennsylvania while I study for it. But the goal hasn’t changed. Isn’t going to change. That’s nonnegotiable.”

He paced in front of the fireplace. “And, realistically, Pennsylvania isn’t that far away. I can drive there to visit or send a limo to bring the baby to me.”

She winced. There were a billion things wrong with his idea. Especially considering she didn’t want her child sucked into “McCallanville,” a world of pampered rich people who didn’t understand reality.

She argued the easiest point. “I’m not putting my baby into a limo alone.”

“There will be times he should be with me.”

“With you? Don’t you mean with a nanny? Even when you’re home you’re on the phone or computer.” Just thinking about it filled her with anger. “Why should my baby spend his time with a driver and a nanny when he or she could be with me? I won’t let my child be raised by a nanny, Jake. Not ever.”

He closed his eyes and shook his head, obviously controlling his temper. Finally, he said, “How much?”

“How much what?”

“How much do you want to make you more agreeable?”

She gaped at him. “Are you trying to bribe me?”

“I’m trying to make you more agreeable.”

“And you think if you give me a few hundred or even a few thousand dollars, I’ll give you what you want in a visitation agreement?”

“I was thinking more like a few million.”

Her eyes widened. “You’re insane! I have a plan. I don’t need your money! I don’t want your money. I want to do what’s best for the baby. So should you.”

He studied her. She could all but see the wheels turning in his head as he came to terms with the fact that this situation wasn’t about money. In his world, everything came down to money. She couldn’t even fault him for trying to find her price—though she did want to deck him. The truth was, she didn’t even want child support. But she figured it was a little too early in the game to tell him that. His brain would have to work so hard to process it that he’d probably have a stroke.

“We’re going to need a written agreement.”

For ten seconds, she wished he hadn’t seen her that morning at the law office. But while her dad had been in prison for something he hadn’t done, she learned wishing for things to be different didn’t change them. Plus, she hadn’t given up on Plan B, convincing him he didn’t want a crying, pooping, spitting-up baby destroying the peace of his life. And that would take more tact and diplomacy than she could muster tonight.

“Okay. But we should have a few more conversations to see what we both want before we even try to get anything on paper.”

He considered that. “Agreed.”

He headed for the door. Though Avery gave him a pleasant smile as she saw him out and said goodbye, another alternative jumped into her brain.

If she couldn’t make him see a baby didn’t fit into his life, there was a risky Plan C. She could tell him that her dad had been in prison and remind him of the can of worms that would be opened once the press started digging into the life of the woman pregnant with his child. They both knew he wouldn’t want that kind of media attention any more than she did. If anything would send him scurrying away from her, it would be the horror of that much negative attention from the press.

There was just one little problem with Plan C—

When she told him about her dad, she’d also be handing him the ammunition to take her child, or to at least keep her and her little one in New York City. All he would have to do would be tell the court he wanted to keep his child away from Avery’s ex-con dad.

Then even if she kept custody, she’d be stuck in New York, away from the people she wanted to help.

Away from the dream she had nurtured and worked for since she was fifteen.

If Plan C went south, it could ruin her life.

CHAPTER TWO

THE NEXT MORNING, a quick knock on Jake’s office door brought his gaze up from the documents on his ornate mahogany desk, the desk that had once belonged to his dad. Because the list of people his secretary would let down the corridor to his office was slim, mostly family, he automatically said, “Come in.”

His brother Seth opened the door and poked his head inside. As tall as Jake and with the same dark hair, Seth hadn’t gotten their mom’s blue eyes, and had irises so brown they were almost black. Especially when he got angry.

“I won’t ask you if you’re busy. I know you are, but can I have five minutes?”

Jake sat back on his soft leather office chair. “Sure. What’s up?”

Seth walked to the seat in front of the desk. “Just curious if you’re really going to offer Mom a job. I mean, it would be kind of fun to watch, but there are twelve people on the board who don’t want us giving an office and a paycheck to family members who aren’t actually coming into work.”

“Since when did you start caring about what the directors think?”

Seth winced. “Since they began calling me because they don’t want to insult you by questioning your judgment.”

“The way they used to call me when they wanted to complain about Dad—”

He left the sentence open, giving Seth the opportunity to mention if the directors had told him anything about their father, a man whose business practices had been so sketchy they’d teetered on the edge of illegal. Ten years had given Jake a chance to fix most of their dad’s messes, to argue him into working fairly or to quietly go behind the scenes and make amends with contractors their dad had threatened to ruin. But Jake didn’t want his brother, his sister and especially not their mother to know what a cheat and a thief Tom McCallan had been. Not to preserve their dad’s reputation, but to finally shake it off. He didn’t want to remember that his dad had emotionally abused him and Seth until his brother had all but dropped out of their family. He didn’t want to remember the times his father had publicly humiliated him. He just wanted to get on with his life.

Seth didn’t say anything, and his facial expression remained casual.

Jake breathed a silent sigh of relief. Obviously, with Tom McCallan gone the directors believed as he did: the past was the past. It was time to move on.

He caught Seth’s gaze. “Pete Waters doesn’t like the idea of me hiring Mom either. He thinks she’ll be underfoot and that she doesn’t have any real skills. But I had a talk with her this morning. I told her there might be a possibility of a job, but she really had to work.”

Seth winced. “How did she take that?”

“I think she felt becoming chairman of the board was her due, and a job, though interesting, is a step down.” He shook his head. “I’m hoping that going to Paris will make her see she doesn’t want any of it. That she’s useful enough working with her charities.”

“That’ll make the board and Pete happy.”

Jake sighed and sat forward on his chair again. “Speaking of Pete, there’s something else I have to tell you.”

“About Pete?”

“No. About the lawyer I was dating from his office.”

Seth grinned. “The hot redhead.”

Jake grimaced. It was typical of Seth to judge a woman by looks alone. Though he had to admit Seth had hit the nail on the head with his description of Avery. She was hot, and talking to her the night before had made his head spin. Especially, looking at her stomach and knowing that baby was his. Feelings he’d never before felt had grabbed his chest and squeezed until he couldn’t ask the things he should have asked. Like for a DNA test and a good explanation about why she’d kept her pregnancy from him.

“Yes. She’s pregnant.”

Seth’s mouth fell open. “Holy hell. And the baby’s yours?”

“She says it is.”

“No DNA test?”

He wasn’t about to tell his brother he’d turned into a ball of confusion the night before just looking at Avery’s belly. He wasn’t that kind of guy. He might have had a moment of pure emotion but that was only because he’d been surprised. He was back to his usual controlled self now.

“We ran into each other at a coffee shop on Valentine’s Day because neither one of us had a date. She works eighty hours a week. Most of our time together started after nine. It’s very clear she doesn’t go out with many men. Besides, I trust this woman. She wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

And that was the bottom line. He did trust her. Not because she was honest, but because the last thing she’d want was more involvement with him or his life. She’d made that abundantly clear. If this baby wasn’t his, it would have been her joy to tell him that.

“What are you going to do?”

“First, we need a halfway decent custody agreement.”

“What do you think that’s going to cost?”

“She doesn’t want money.”

Seth burst out laughing. “Seriously?”

“She’s a lawyer. She can earn her own. Plus, she made a smart choice when she bought her condo. Her plan is to move back to Pennsylvania where the cost of living is a lot lower than what we have here.” He shrugged. “There’s no price for her. She doesn’t need our money.”

“Mom’s going to have a fit.”

“No kidding. Especially since Avery’s got to be six months along.” He remembered her swollen with his child, and suddenly imagined a little boy that was his. Not just an heir, but someone to teach everything from throwing a spiral to getting what you want in a negotiation. He never thought he’d have a child. Never thought he wanted a child. But he needed an heir, and he wanted to be a dad. If nothing else, he wanted to do better than his father had done with him and Seth. And come hell or high water he intended to be part of this baby’s life.

Seth laughed. “Six months and she only told you now? This just keeps getting better. You should rent an arena and sell tickets for when you tell Mom.”

“Very funny.”

Seth sat back. “I’m going to be an uncle.”

Jake met his brother’s gaze. “I’m going to be a dad.” Confusion swam through him again, tightening his chest with a combination of elation and fear. For as much as he longed to right things with this child, he also realized he could screw up worse than their dad had.

Seth sighed. “It’s official. We’re adults. I got word today on Clark Hargrave buying my share of the investment firm we started. He’s pulled the money together. Once it comes through, I’m out of the investment business.”

“Really?” Jake sat back. “Does that mean you can permanently take over the CEO position I left to become chairman of the board?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“You’ve been doing the job since Dad died, but if you want to leave I could appoint Sabrina.” Both Seth and their baby sister Sabrina had MBAs, but while Seth had started his own company, refusing to work for their dad, Sabrina currently ran a consulting firm for start-ups.

“And ruin her life too?” Seth rose. “I’ll do it, but I’m hiring two assistants and a vice president, so I’m not chained to my desk the way you are.”

“It’s a deal.” Jake rose too, extending his hand to his brother.

Seth shook it. “I think we’re both crazy.”

Considering workload alone, Jake would have agreed with him, except he liked who he was. He had been grateful for the chance to fix the reputation of McCallan, Inc. Now that he had a baby on the way, getting it right was a thousand times more important. He would make his child a part of everything he had—

Unless Avery Novak disappeared. And she just might. They hadn’t gotten anywhere close to agreement the night before, and she was just offbeat enough to think running was the answer.

He couldn’t bribe her.

He didn’t think he could outwit her. They were an even match.

The only thing left was sweet-talking her.

Almost at the door, Seth turned. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll run this pregnancy by George Green.”

Jake’s brow furrowed. “The private investigator?”

“You dated Avery Novak for only three weeks, but you don’t think you need a DNA test. You don’t seem to care that she’s moving to Pennsylvania. Either you’re still half in love with her—”

“I’m not.”

“Or you’re so happy to be having a child you’re not thinking clearly.”

He sighed. “I’m thinking perfectly fine.”

“Let me call George anyway, have him do a bit of research into her past to make sure everything’s okay.”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s just a precaution. Plus, you never know what he’ll find. Maybe there’s something in her past that could help you.”

Jake ran his hand across his mouth. Calling a private investigator to make sure Avery was on the up-and-up was one thing. But digging up dirt, ruining someone’s life to extort them into compliance sounded so much like something his father would do after one of his fits of rage that he hesitated.

“Look, Jake, Mom’s already at odds. If this blows up in your face, she’s going to go over the edge. You know it. I know it. This isn’t just about you.”

Jake tossed his pencil to his desk. “All right. Call George. But I want to be the one to talk to him.”

“Great. I’ll set a meeting for this afternoon.”

“Not at the office.”

“Your place?”

He hesitated again. A horrible feeling washed through him. Was he pulling one of his dad’s tricks? Looking for something in Avery’s past? His intention was to make sure Avery could be trusted, but what if he found something that might make her seem unfit? Would he take her baby?

He stopped himself. There was no reason to get ahead of himself. A woman he barely knew, albeit that she’d been vetted by Waters, Waters and Montgomery when they’d hired her, was having his child. There was nothing wrong with checking up on her. Plus, he couldn’t dismiss what Seth was saying. Their mom was fragile. Their father might have been dead five months, but she wasn’t bouncing back from the loss. They didn’t need a scandal, or worse yet, a thief in their lives right now.

“Have him meet me at my house at about six.”

The feeling rolled through him again. The awful fear that he was becoming his dad. This time, he ignored it.

* * *

As Avery arrived at her office, she closed the door and hit the Contacts button on her phone to call her mom.

She hadn’t been able to sleep the night before. After hours of tossing and turning, she’d realized she’d been lulled into a false sense that she was in control of this situation with Jake because she had a Plan A, Plan B and even Plan C.

But Jake McCallan was much too careful, too smart. Sleeping with her ten times had been one thing. Having her as the mother of his child was quite another. If he hadn’t checked into her past before this, he would be checking now.

And once he did, Plan C would be as dead in the water as Plan A, and Plan B wouldn’t stand a chance.

Still, right now, her priority was to warn her mom.

When she answered, Avery said, “Hey, Mom.”

“Avery! What a nice surprise. What’s up? You never call on a weekday.”

She winced. She didn’t like reopening old wounds, but she wouldn’t let her mom be blindsided. “I have a feeling some people are going to be coming around asking questions about me.”

“You mean like the private investigators who checked into your life when you were hired by the big law firm?”

Avery said, “Yes,” but her heart stuttered. Pregnancy hormones must be making her slow and dull. Jake wouldn’t have to hire a private investigator to check out her past. All he had to do was ask her boss. Pete Waters had investigated her before he hired her. But where Waters, Waters and Montgomery considered it an advantage to employ a woman whose dad had been unjustly convicted—because it motivated her to work hard for their clients—all Jake would see was that her dad had been in jail.

And he could use that.

She ran her hand through her hair and walked to the filing cabinet. There were no windows in her office. Associates didn’t get offices with windows. That was her place. A very small person in a very big world. A world that was quickly spinning out of control.

She squeezed her eyes shut. There was absolutely no way to fight this. “This is a mess, Mom. It’s going to bring up all Dad’s troubles again for you guys.”

“Avery,” her mom said softly. “We live it every day. The whole town knows your dad was in jail but got out when Project Freedom proved he’d been framed. Let someone come and ask questions. We’re fine.”

“Okay.”

“But that doesn’t mean we don’t want you starting your law firm. Your dad went through hell for six years and we don’t want to see that happen to anybody else.”

“Neither do I.”

“And we’re proud of you.”

“Thanks.” She sucked in a breath, blew it out slowly. Her parents being okay with an investigator coming to town solved one problem. But there were thirty others nipping at her heels, things she wouldn’t burden her mom with.

“So...this guy who’s coming to ask us questions...does this have anything to do with the baby?”

She swallowed. She should have known her mom would figure this out. Who else from New York would care about her dad’s past?

“The baby’s father and I ran into each other. He saw I was pregnant and pretty much did the math.”

“And you think he’s going to look into your past hoping to find something he can use to get custody of the baby?”

“He might. Or he might just use it to keep me in New York.”

“Oh.”

Her mother’s hopeless tone caused all of Avery’s fears to rush to the surface. “He could ruin all my plans.”

“Or maybe the two of you could work this out?”

The more she thought about it, the more she doubted it. But to placate her mom she said, “Sure.”

“I mean it.” Her mother’s voice brightened. “All you need is a little trust. In fact, if you told him about your dad so he didn’t have to send a private investigator to Wilton, then he might see you’re an honest person and negotiate a little more fairly.”

Avery laughed. “That is the most optimistic thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Sweetie, he’s going to find out anyway. And if you don’t tell him, it might make him suspicious and maybe even angry that you held such important information back. But if you tell him, it could be your door of opportunity to start some trust between you.”

Her mother sounded so sure that for a second Avery waivered. “I don’t know.”

“Your dad and I aren’t running. You shouldn’t either. Face this head-on.”

If it was anybody else but Jake McCallan, she might be able to cobble together enough optimism to give it a shot. Knowing her mother would keep trying to persuade her if she didn’t at least say she’d consider it, Avery said, “I’ll think about it.”

After some gossip about the flower shop owner, Avery hung up the phone and squeezed her eyes shut. If Jake discovered her father’s past and confronted her, she could come out swinging, quote bits and pieces from the hearings that freed him and defend him.

But to tell Jake herself? To explain that her dad had been framed by a coworker with a sick wife, who could have freed him the day his wife died but waited until his own death to admit to his crime? To tell Jake about weeks and months of waiting for hearings, about having her dad’s old boss oppose a new trial, about the worry that Paul Barnes had bribed the judge? It would be one of the most vulnerable moments of her life. She was a fighter, not a beggar.

But her mother was right. Jake was going to find out. And soon. If she could humble herself to explain this to him, it might be the beginning of trust between them.

Then maybe she could use Plan C. Once she told him about her dad, reminding him of the field day the media would have could show him how difficult having her baby in his life would be.

It was risky. But as her mom had said, he was going to find out anyway.

She got to work to take her mind off everything. An hour later, her private cell phone rang. She glanced down, saw the caller was Jake and squeezed her eyes shut before she answered.

“Good morning, Jake.”

“I’d like to finish our discussion from last night. How about dinner tonight at 4 Charles Prime Rib?”

She blew her breath out in a quiet stream. She didn’t want to cause an argument, but if she was going to tell him about her dad, she didn’t want to go to a restaurant. Especially not some place where anyone could see them and where paparazzi hung out at the entry, waiting for celebrities. One look at the pregnant belly on Jake’s date and the photographers would go nuts taking pictures.

“Maybe a coffee shop would be better? Someplace low-key.”

A few seconds passed in silence. He clearly wasn’t thrilled to have her change his plan.

“I just don’t want to run into the photographers who hang out in front of those ritzy restaurants you like.”

He sighed. “Okay. How about that small coffee shop up the street from your condo?”

“Great. That would be great.”

She hung up the phone equal parts grateful for the opportunity to talk to him and terrified at the thousands of ways this discussion could go wrong.

At nine o’clock, she strode up the still busy street to the brick building housing the coffee shop where she was meeting Jake. Large windows fronted the well-lit establishment. The place was crowded with chatting people hovering at the bar on the left, or lounging at one of the curved booths with cushioned seats.

She stepped inside, glanced around and found Jake in the back, at one of the compact wooden tables for two. Disciplined Jake wouldn’t waste the space of one of the big comfy booths, no matter how much she would have loved to sink her tired body into those cushions right now.

Convinced her mother was right—with the addition of Plan C—and ready to have the discussion, she walked up to the table. “Hi.”

He rose. Nice-fitting trousers and a pale blue dress shirt outlined muscles created in the gym. Her mouth all but watered. But she told herself to settle down. Not to salivate over how good-looking he was, or to realize how easily she could unbutton that shirt and feel all the fabulous muscles of his chest.

Her breath shivered and she took a quiet drink of air to steady herself. “I see you went home to change.”

“I had some time.”

Something about the way he said that set her warning signals to high alert. But before she could say anything, he asked, “Can I get you a coffee?”

She shook her head. “I’ll have a bottle of water. I can’t drink coffee. Another unfortunate side effect of pregnancy.”

“Another?”

She sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him that pregnant women were easily aroused or that just looking at him had made her want to rip his shirt off. “You’d be surprised what happens to a body when a woman is pregnant.”

He walked away and she settled herself on the seat across from his while he went for her water.

Setting it on the table in front of her, he asked, “So did you have morning sickness?”

She opened the bottle. “Horribly.”

“But that only lasts the first trimester, right?”

He’d done some homework. More proof that if he didn’t already know about her dad, he would soon.

“Yes. But some things bring it back.”

“Like what things?”

“You’re going to laugh, but certain toothpastes just about kill me.”

He caught her gaze as he sat across from her. “Really?”

“I went through four brands before I found something I could brush my teeth with.”

He laughed.

She rolled her eyes. “Consider yourself very, very lucky that your part in creating this baby was a lot more pleasant.”

He laughed again and Avery said a silent prayer for strength. She’d never seen him this comfortable or relaxed. There might never be another chance as perfect as this to tell him her father’s story.

She sat up straighter, pulling together all her confidence—

“Why if it isn’t the lovely and talented Jake McCallan.”

Avery’s head snapped to the right and she saw the pretty blonde who’d walked up to their table.

Jake groaned. “What do you want, Sabrina?”

The blonde smiled at Jake. “Nothing.” She slid a glance at Avery. “I just rarely see you anywhere but the office and dinner once a week at Mom’s. And with company too.”

Jake shook his head. “Avery, this is my sister, Sabrina. Sabrina, this is Avery Novak. She works at Waters, Waters and Montgomery.”

Sabrina extended her hand.

Avery froze. His sister just happened to be in the same coffee shop where they’d planned to meet twelve hours ago?

Shell-shocked and confused, she took the hand Sabrina extended. Social convention dictated that she rise, but then she’d expose the baby bump. And it wouldn’t be long before everyone in his family would know she was pregnant. And once the news was out, it would really be “out.” They’d tell their friends. Everyone would know. There’d be no way to ease him out of the picture. No way for him to quietly disassociate himself from her.

Damn. She had no idea why she thought she could trust him. The minute he was out of her sight, he’d probably told his entire family. Worse, he hadn’t warned her that he’d told them. How could she explain her dad’s situation to him and think he’d listen? Think he’d keep it to himself and give her what she wanted? He wouldn’t. Let it come out in court, at a custody battle, where the evidence could speak for itself.

Or maybe it wouldn’t.

Maybe his lawyers would twist it the way Paul Barnes had gotten the DA to twist the evidence of her father’s innocence into a story of a coworker who’d only confessed after he was dead to get his friend out of prison.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

She couldn’t deal with this right now. Especially not in front of his sister.

She popped out of her seat, grabbed her purse and turned away from the table. “We’ll talk another time, Jake.”

Her pulse pounding, she raced out the door and into the hot first-day-of-September evening. She couldn’t believe how this situation kept spiraling. Anger poured through her in waves. If she couldn’t trust Jake not to say anything to anyone until they had their situation resolved, how could she trust him with anything?

A hand caught her arm, slowed her down, then stopped her.

It had to be Jake.

She spun to face him. “Now what? Would you like me to sit with a reporter from the New Yorker and give an interview? Maybe we can get ABC to put us on Good Morning America?”

“Will you stop? I didn’t tell her to come here!”

“You expect me to believe it was a coincidence?”

“It was! And you’re being stupid. It was my sister for God’s sake. Not a girlfriend.”

“I would have much rather that she’d been a girlfriend!”

He stepped close. “Really?”

He smelled spicy and male and all her pregnancy hormones popped. She ignored them. “You can date anybody you want.”

“I’m about to be a father. I want to settle one life crisis at a time. I don’t want to date anybody.”

“Well, you might as well, because you and I are oil and water. Our lives clash. Even when we try to get along, we fight. We’ll never get a custody agreement hammered out. We’re going to end up in court.”

“Because you intend to be stubborn?”

“Because I had a plan!” Three plans, actually. And all three had failed. “You don’t believe this about me, but I love plans. I love order. Just because I don’t say it with a calm, rational voice, doesn’t mean I—”

He caught her by the upper arms and hauled her against him, and for twenty seconds they stared into each other’s eyes. Warmth coursed through her. Her breasts met his chest. Their baby bumped against his stomach.

A million emotions flashed through his blue eyes. She was pretty sure his intention had been to stop her tirade by kissing her. Then he’d felt the baby bump and frozen.

Except for those eyes. Every emotion from confusion to fear to happy surprise and anger raced through them.

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