The Pregnancy Contract (5 page)

As soon as she said the words she realized exactly where her pain and anger were centered. Her father. It was the final blow to know that he'd loved her so little that he'd sold everything to Wade. Every last thing in her world that had meant anything to her whatsoever.

“For what it's worth, I loved Rex like a father. At least I was there for him when he needed someone,” Wade commented softly.

“I'd have been home if I'd known.” Piper turned and faced out the window, speaking to the room rather than the man behind her who held the power to reshape her future. “I bet you even discouraged him from letting me know he was ill.”

She felt, rather than heard, him close the distance between them. Felt the heat of his body pierce the cold that wrapped her in its solitary grasp. His touch on her shoulder was surprisingly gentle. The heartless businessman from a moment before seemed to have vanished, replaced by the devoted, fiercely protective man she'd fallen in love with years before. The man who'd always made her feel so safe and cherished.

“You probably won't believe me but I urged him to tell you. Especially when he knew he didn't have much longer. Rex was nothing if not stubborn. A trait you both shared.” Even his voice was softer, more caring—and the wry fondness in his tone was so familiar that she felt the last wall around her heart crumble, setting all her emotions free.

The sob that been building in her chest escaped. After today's revelations and Wade's demand, she could no longer keep a lid on the anguish inside.

He turned her body and enveloped her in his arms, her
face against his chest. One hand, fingers splayed, rubbed big circles across her back. The other held her head gently against the rock hardness of his body.

It shouldn't feel so good, she told herself. She should pull away, refuse his offer of solace—he was the enemy—but instead, she found her fingers knotting in the fine cotton of his business shirt, felt the wrenching sobs that came from deep within her. Welcomed the warmth of his embrace.

Eventually she managed to bring herself under control, her sobs settling to the occasional snuffle. Beneath her hands she became aware of the tension that drew Wade's body as taut as a bow, felt his indrawn breath before he spoke.

“Would it be so bad, Piper? We were good together once.”

His voice was pitched low, the coercion a subtle thread in his tone—compelling her to agree. Piper shook her head. Her tear-stained face leaving tracks of moisture in an untidy streak across the pristine whiteness of his business shirt.

“Please,” she said, her voice strained and small as she drew away from the treacherous comfort of his arms. “Give me some time to work something out. At least give me time to think about what you're asking.”

For a second she thought he'd refuse. That he'd press her for an immediate answer before either throwing her physically out the door or, alternatively, tossing her over his shoulder and taking her upstairs.

A zing of heat spiked through her core at the thought of the latter and she felt her empty womb clench tight in anticipation. Dammit, even her body was letting her down. It still remembered the way he used to make her feel, how good they'd been together. But that was all in the past now, she reminded herself. The man she'd loved had changed into someone she barely recognized. She couldn't love this stranger, and he certainly no longer loved her. It was all wrong to think of a child coming out of this. She could no more deny her intense physical attraction to him than she could
stop breathing, but there was no way she was going to have another baby with him under these circumstances.

Another
baby? Who was she kidding? She'd failed with the last one. Why would this time be any different? She couldn't go through that again. Wouldn't. Hadn't she lost enough already? Her fear must have shown on her face because Wade eventually gave her a short nod.

“You have until dinner tonight.”

P
iper was too stunned to react to his words. She could only watch helplessly as Wade left the room. She heard him let himself out the front door and make his way down the front steps and across the crushed-shell-covered driveway to his car. The muted roar of his sleek gunmetal gray Porsche and the spray of shells signaled his departure and allowed her to release the breath she hadn't realized she held captive in her chest.

Her mind scattered on the monumental task ahead of her. She cast a quick glance at the antique carriage clock on the fireplace mantel. It was hard to believe it wasn't yet past midday. But that in itself was a bonus. At least it gave her time to see if she could raise the kind of money she was going to need to put Wade's appalling suggestion to bed.

To bed? What was she thinking? She rubbed at her face with both hands as if she could erase the thought once and for all.

She had to find some money from somewhere. Anywhere.
Banks were out of the question—she had no collateral to speak of. There was only one thing for it. She had to try to garner favor with her father's cronies. Surely someone, somewhere, would step up to help her.

Piper spun on her heel and stalked out of the room and across the hall to the library and settled at what had been her father's desk. Her hand shook slightly as she eased open the right-hand drawer to extract Rex's personal address book. She flipped open to the letter
A
and ran her finger down the list of names. It was a start. All she had to do was drum up the courage to actually make the requests.

The sun was waning in the autumn sky as she hung up the handset for the last time. Her ear ached from the amount of time she'd held the phone pressed to it, but nowhere near as much as her heart. It appeared that when she'd left, she'd burned all her bridges. Her perceived abandonment of her father had blacklisted her among every last person he'd called a friend. She hadn't been able to raise a single dollar.

She cast a glance at the untouched sandwich and cup of tea that Mrs. Dexter had brought to her a few hours ago. She hadn't felt like eating it then and she certainly didn't feel like it now. Just the thought of food was enough to tip her stomach, but that was nothing in comparison to what the concept of her rapidly diminishing alternatives gave her.

“Ah, lovey, you haven't eaten.”

Mrs. Dexter bustled into the library and tutted her disapproval as she removed the tray from the corner of the desk.

“You won't get your bonny figure back if you don't take better care of yourself, Miss Piper.”

“I'll be fine,” Piper said quietly.

“Fine, humph! You'll be needing a bit of flesh on those bones of yours if you're going to attract the interest of a fine young man like Mr. Collins again.”

Piper lifted her head and stared at Mrs. Dexter in horror.

“Why would I want to do that?” she couldn't help herself from asking.

“Why wouldn't you?” Mrs. Dexter gave her an uncharacteristically sly wink. “After all, it's not as if you're strangers to one another, is it?”

“I really don't think—”

“Oh, dear, listen to me. Here you are, only a day home and I'm already on at you. Why don't you go upstairs and get changed into something pretty for dinner. Mr. Collins will be home in an hour or so and I'm sure he'll be wanting you to look your lovely best. Although what we're going to do about that hair I just don't know.”

“Mrs. Dexter!” Piper raised her voice, earning a look of chastisement from her old family retainer. “I'm sorry, Dexie,” she amended, softening her tone. “It's been a while since I've had any looking after. I'm a bit rusty.”

“Of course you are, lovey. But you're home now, where you belong. So why don't you run along and do as I said and when you're all finished, Dexter will serve drinks in the parlor before dinner.”

It was all Piper could do to stop herself from shaking her head. She was twenty-eight years old, for goodness' sake, but in Dexie's mind she'd always be a little girl. Between the Dexters and her father, no wonder she'd never learned to grow up. That said, the prospect of taking a little distance from her failed attempts to raise
any
funds, let alone the kind of money she needed to clear her debt with Wade, did hold some appeal.

“Dexie, do we have any boxes in the house?”

“What? Storage boxes, you mean? Whatever do you want those for?”

“I'd like to clear some of the things from my room.”

The older woman looked stricken. “Change your room?”

Piper forced a smile to her lips. “Yes, I'm not a little girl
anymore, Dexie. I think it's time a whole lot of the things in there were packed up and moved away somewhere.”

“But Mr. Mitchell—”

“Isn't with us anymore. And even if he was, I can't imagine he'd have any use for my old porcelain dolls. I don't mean to be harsh, but it really is time to move on.”

Mrs. Dexter folded her lips in a straight line of disapproval and sniffed audibly.

“Well, if you insist. I'll see that Dexter brings some up for you, along with some packing foam and Bubble Wrap. We still have the boxes Mr. Collins brought when he moved in but I can't say I ever expected to see them used again so soon.”

Piper held back the words she longed to say, words along the lines of wishing Mr. Collins would pack those boxes once more and move right back out again. Instead she opted for a civilized thank-you and made her way upstairs.

She quickly slipped into an old T-shirt and pair of sweatpants, the brand name imprinted across her buttocks in all its labeled glory. She shook her head. For what it had cost for both items, she could have fed a family in North Africa for a month, probably longer. The thought brought the enormity of the amount she owed Wade front and center in her mind again.

What the hell was she going to do?

An hour later she was no nearer to finding a solution but at least she'd had the chance to busy herself, and her mind, with clearing the shelves in her room of the remnants of her childhood. She'd individually wrapped the dolls in Bubble Wrap then laid layers of packing foam in between until each one was put away. As soon as all the glass-eyed empty faces were hidden behind the lids of the boxes, she felt something in her body begin to ease. As if she was no longer under constant scrutiny. No longer being held up in judgment against some impossible, unattainable ideal of perfection.

She stiffened as she heard the sound of a heavy measured tread outside her bedroom door. Clearly Wade was back from the office. No doubt he'd be changing and then returning downstairs for a predinner drink. The footsteps slowed before continuing along the landing toward his bedroom.

He'd expect an answer from her shortly and she still had no idea of what she was going to say. What
could
she say? She had no means to pay him back, of which he was fully aware, which left her very little option for anything else. She was exactly where he wanted her. But why her? Why a baby?

She didn't believe for a minute that he didn't have time for a relationship. There were umpteen women who would happily have his child for the chance to have a piece of him, no matter how small. Was that what it was? Did he think the old animosity between them would stop her from being a problem? Prevent her from wanting a proper relationship with him?

A twinge deep inside reminded her how she'd destroyed the relationship they'd had through her petty selfishness, her unwillingness to share any part of his love. That had to be why he was prepared to offer her the deal he had. Deal? Who was she kidding? The word implied something reciprocal, but she still stood to be the loser even if she did agree to his outrageous suggestion.

So she wouldn't have a debt to him anymore. She certainly wouldn't have anything else, either. She'd be beholden to him for everything. Hell, she already was.

But what of the baby he said he wanted so very much? There was no doubt in her mind he would love his son or daughter with a single-minded devotion that only a parent could give. But would that excuse the lack of any kind of warmth or affection with which the child would be created? She couldn't help thinking back to her last pregnancy—to the
child who had been conceived without conscious intention, and yet with so much deep, genuine passion.

Piper sat back on her bed and placed both her hands over her belly. The miscarriage of his baby had been one of the hardest things she'd ever had to go through in her life. When she'd first discovered she was pregnant, she'd considered coming home. Facing Wade with the truth that their lovemaking had given them both something they'd never dreamed they deserved. A child to love together.

But, in her mind, had been the bitter reminder that he'd chosen her father over her. That he'd made a conscious decision to further his career rather than be with the woman he'd said he loved. To her, back then, his decision had been all about putting her father and, most especially, his work before her. Something her father had always done all her life. It had been the final nail in the coffin that bore their dead relationship.

She'd finally resolved to go through the pregnancy alone. A decision that, in the end, proved futile when she'd suffered a miscarriage at fourteen weeks. Brokenhearted all over again, Piper had responded the same way she had every other time her hopes for love or happiness had fallen apart. She'd picked up her life anew. Partied hard, then partied harder still. No matter what she'd done, even though the hurt didn't show, the pain lingered inside her—and it was as fresh today as it was when she'd realized there was nothing she could do to prevent the infinite sense of loss. Their baby was gone—and Wade's rejection all those years ago meant that he still didn't even know she'd ever been pregnant.

Of course time and distance and even a little maturity had shown her that Wade had taken the right course. To have left his job back then would have been foolish in the extreme, and Wade was anything but foolish. It was why her father had taken him on in the first place—initially as an intern, then subsequently as a junior executive. She knew his loyalty
to Rex Mitchell was absolute and came from a deep-seated respect and gratitude toward her father for taking a chance on him. And now look where he was. Head of the biggest export company in the country.

She'd been too young, too foolish and much too selfish to ever have been good for him back then. But what about now? While a part of her argued she should never have come back, logic also made a solid case that she'd needed to come home. Needed to finish healing. Needed to make amends for not being the daughter her father had wanted, for not being the woman Wade had needed. Maybe, just maybe, being that woman for him now.

Months ago as she'd cradled an undernourished toddler on a continent half a world away, she'd acknowledged how precious life was, how important the relationships within that life, and she'd promised herself she'd make it up to Rex and Wade, if they'd let her. That she could now never reconcile with her father was a cross she was going to have to bear the rest of her life. But Wade was another story.

Could she do what he'd asked of her in an attempt to make amends? The very thought sat uncomfortably with her. She'd be using a child,
their
child, as a tool to salve her own conscience. Everything inside her rebelled at the idea of being so manipulative—it was wrong on so many levels she couldn't even begin to count. Her arms still ached for the baby she'd never gotten to hold. Until that moment when she knew the tiny life inside her had died, she'd have entered into an agreement like Wade was suggesting without so much as blinking, if it got her financial freedom. She'd learned not to be that kind of person anymore. The past few years had taught her so very much about life, loss and even love.

Love. What if they stood a chance of reigniting their old relationship? Of building something worth saving and, this time, getting it right? The idea was both daunting and exhilarating at the same time and, for the first time since she'd
arrived home and heard the news about her father, she felt as if she genuinely had a purpose again. It was a complete shot in the dark but she had no other alternatives to consider.

She glanced at her clock and noted she had better get ready for dinner. He expected her response and she didn't want to keep him waiting.

She got up off the bed and opened wide her wardrobe doors, seeking a dress that she knew had to still be here. It felt a little weird to know that her things had been maintained the whole time she'd been away but she pushed the thought aside. Her father had believed he'd been doing the right thing by her. Loving her in his way. It was a pity that she hadn't understood that at the time. She'd only been able to see that he hadn't loved her the way she'd wanted. For Piper, once she'd closed the front door behind her, all she'd wanted was distance. Her father had refused, yet again, to allow her to work within Mitchell Exports, in any capacity—telling her instead to do what she was good at, being beautiful and dressing well. In short, being a symbol of his success.

The response had been so typical of him. He had simply refused to believe she could be anything but ornamental. So she'd left home in defiance. Swearing she'd never come back until he'd see she was as strong and capable as any woman and asked her to return. She should have known better. Rex Mitchell asked nothing of anyone. If he couldn't make it happen by himself, it wasn't going to happen in his world. Wade was that way now, trapping her in a situation where he could force her to do what he wanted. Would she give in to his demand? She still wasn't entirely sure. She was scared at the thought of getting pregnant again, especially considering what had happened last time. But maybe this was her chance, as twisted as it seemed, to finally make things right. For her. For Wade. And for their baby.