The Pregnancy Contract (7 page)

She straightened her shoulders and dragged in a deep breath before speaking. “No, not at all. We reached an agreement and I will honor that.” If only to prove to you I
can
be honorable, she thought privately. “And when can I start at Mitchell Exports?”

She squirmed a little as Wade rose one eyebrow and cast an inquiring glance over her attire.

“You were expecting to start today?”

A tiny smile quirked at the corner of his mouth, as if she had presented herself in no less a state of readiness than he'd expected.

“Of course not. Tomorrow will be soon enough.”

Piper allowed her gaze to meet his across the highly polished walnut desk. She wouldn't back down, not an inch. She could be honorable and still keep her pride, couldn't she? Some how?

A surprising glow of approval shone in Wade's eyes, a glow that sent a spiraling warmth deep to her core. It shocked her to realize that his approval meant so much to her.

“Do you think you can be ready to come into the office with me at eight tomorrow?” he asked, tilting his head slightly to one side, the smile now spreading into a full grin. But it seemed less judgmental than before, as if he was teasing her instead of truly mocking her.

When he put that smile into action, he really was something else, she decided. She'd bet anyone—man, woman or child—would be putty in his hands in the face of it. Shamefully, she was no more immune to his charisma than anyone else.

“Of course.”

“Excellent. And I assume you still remember how to drive a stick shift?”

If wrestling a bouncing jeep over potholed, unsealed roads was any claim to success, she figured she could cope with Auckland city traffic.

“I do,” she replied.

“Your appointment for your physical is today, at eleven. It might pay for you to change before you go.” A teasing smile played around his lips. “Here's the address.”

He flicked a card across the desk toward her. She lifted it up and saw the name of a private medical clinic tastefully printed across the top of the plain white card. A doctor's name beneath it in black script. A female doctor, she noted.

“Thank you. Is that everything?”

“For now.”

He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a key ring and offered it to her. Piper stood and reached for the keys, but started as his fingers closed around hers as she went to remove them from his palm.

“My keys. Drive safely, okay?”

“I didn't know you cared,” she said as flippantly as she could manage even as her heart began to race at his touch.

“You will be having my baby, of course I care.”

The words hurt her far more than she'd expected. She knew she was a vessel for him to have that which he most wanted, but it shocked her to acknowledge that she wanted to be so very much more than that.

“Don't worry, I won't do anything to jeopardize the merchandise,” she said, aiming again for lightness but knowing she fell short when he didn't release her hand straight away.

“I can always arrange a driver for you if you'd rather,” he said.

“No, I'll be fine. Seriously. And you'd best let me go if you want me to be on time.”

She looked pointedly at their hands and snatched hers, and the keys, away the second he released her.

“I'll see you this evening then?” she said, heading toward the door.

“No, I have an appointment this evening.”

She stopped and turned back to face him. “Oh, a hot date?”

“Something like that,” he replied.

He still planned to go on seeing other women, even as he got her pregnant?

“I thought you didn't have time for relationships,” she pushed. It was like pressing on a bruise. You knew, no matter what, it was going to hurt.

“This definitely doesn't fall into that category.” He smiled again.

“Oh, so it's just sex then?”

Oh, God. When would she learn to haul back on her runaway tongue?

This time he laughed out loud. “Would that bother you, Piper?”

It did bother her. Far more than she was prepared to admit to
him.

“Well, in the interest of keeping clean, maybe it should,” she challenged. “When is
your
appointment with the doctor?”

“Don't worry, there'll be no chance of me catching anything tonight that you should be worried about.”

She sniffed audibly. “I should think not.”

Then, with as much decorum as she could muster, she headed through the door. She was at the foot of the staircase when she heard his voice behind her.

“Piper, you could come with me if you want to.”

“To spend an evening with one of your women? I don't think so.”

She had some pride left.

He shrugged at her response. “No problem. I just thought I'd give you the option.”

The option. She clutched the folder containing their agreement to her chest and fought not to laugh out loud. Options were in scarce supply for her these days.

“It's okay. I want an early night before starting work tomorrow, anyway.”

“Your choice,” Wade said as he turned and went back into the library.

For a moment Piper was tempted to follow him back in there. To tell him that she'd changed her mind. She knew it would eat her up all evening, knowing he was with another woman. Wondering whether he was kissing her, whether his hands would push aside her clothing to bare her skin to his touch. Whether her hands were touching him.

She shook her head fiercely. She had to stop torturing herself this way. But even as she ascended the stairs she knew there'd be one amendment to their agreement that he may not be too happy about, and that was going to be an exclusivity clause.

P
iper swiftly discovered that driving Wade's Porsche 911 Carrera GTS was a world away from the rackety old jeep she'd driven last month. Her hands settled on the three-spoke steering wheel, the covering of which felt like suede beneath her touch, and she took a deep breath before letting the engine roar to throbbing life.

Man, this car was like a hard-on with wheels. No wonder men loved things like this so much, she smiled to herself as she slowly cruised down the crushed shell driveway and out through the iron gates of the property. It seemed almost criminal not to detour to the nearest motorway and let the car show its paces, but she wasn't that flippant devil-may-care individual anymore.

The car handled like a dream and by the time she pulled into the designated patient parking at the health center she almost wished she had escaped into the countryside. Nerves assailed her. What if the checkup disclosed something that would jeopardize her agreement with Wade? She sucked in
a deep breath and let it go slowly. She just had to get out of the car and visit the doctor and see for herself.

The clinic's rooms were spacious and elegantly furnished. A far cry from what she'd become used to during her volunteer work abroad. She doubted a fly or a speck of dust would so much as dare to enter here. After giving her name to the receptionist, she sat in one of the comfortable waiting chairs and listlessly flicked through a magazine. She hadn't been there long before she heard her name called.

A woman, a little older than herself, stood waiting for her with a smile. As Piper approached, the woman thrust out her hand.

“Hi, I'm May Ritter. Wade asked if I could see you today.”

So he was on first-name terms with the doctor? Piper gave her a surreptitious once-over as she shook hands and smiled in response. The woman was definitely attractive, with well-tamed, deep red hair, and a clear complexion any supermodel would die for. Bright green eyes sparkled behind frameless lenses.

“Come on through,” May said.

She led the way down a short corridor and into a treatment room and gestured that Piper take a seat beside the desk that was pushed up against the wall.

“Now, tell me a bit about yourself,” the doctor said, settling comfortably in the chair behind the desk and angling the computer screen toward her.

“What do you need to know?” Piper hedged. Where should she begin? The reality that she was here for a pre-pregnancy health check was all too real.

“Let's start with your full name, age and stuff like that, then we'll go into your medical history.”

Piper felt a cold chill run down her back. Her medical history? That would mean disclosing her previous miscarriage. There was no way on this earth that she ever wanted Wade to find out about that. It wouldn't take much for him to put
two and two together and realize that she'd been carrying his baby. And that she'd lost it.

“This information remains confidential, doesn't it?” she asked, her voice a little pitchy.

“Definitely. Wade wanted me to make sure you're in good shape to start a family, but any details you tell me will stay entirely between us. Wade's a friend, but that doesn't trump doctor-patient confidentiality.”

“You know Wade personally?”

Could this get any worse?

“Oh, yes. He and my husband have been friends for about five years now. They have this ridiculous competitive thing going between them over weekly squash games. You'd think they'd have known each other a lifetime they're so close. Wade's the godfather of our three-year-old daughter. In fact, he's even babysitting for us tonight. Hopefully, part of my thank-you to him will be giving you a clean bill of health.”

Ah, thought Piper, so that was his reason for not being home tonight. No wonder he'd looked so amused at her reaction. A flush of anger and embarrassment heated her cheeks. Why couldn't he simply have told her the truth rather than let her think he was seeing another woman? She dragged her attention back to the matters at hand.

Piper nodded. “All he needs to know is that I don't have any communicable diseases and that I'm healthy, right?”

“Sure, once we've run all our tests, etc., that's all he needs to know.”

“Well, obviously I need to tell you this won't be my first pregnancy. Eight years ago I lost a baby at fourteen weeks.” Piper swallowed against the lump that formed in her throat.

“I'm sorry to hear that. Were there complications with the pregnancy?”

Piper shook her head. “Just one of those things, they said.”

May got up from her seat and sat in the chair next to Piper, taking one of Piper's hands in hers. “I'm sorry, Piper. It's
never easy losing a baby, especially when there is no apparent reason. Did you have support at the time?”

“I was on my own. Aside from the medical staff, no one else knew.”

May's fingers closed more tightly around Piper's in silent support. “That can't have been easy.”

Piper blinked back the tears that burned in her eyes. “It wasn't. It makes me scared about this, though. About doing it again. What if—”

“Piper, there is probably no reason why you shouldn't have a perfectly normal pregnancy. That's why you're here today.”

Piper nodded. “There's one other thing,” she continued. “I've been working overseas for the past few years, volunteering with aid organizations. I contracted malaria a while back.”

May reached across her desk for the folder in which she'd been making notes before and made a few notations. “How far back?” she asked.

“Just under four years ago.”

“Any recurrences?”

“Not so far.”

“Okay,” May said, making a few more notes. “What sort of work were you doing?”

“Grunt work, for the most part. I'm not skilled in anything but you don't need a degree to help where it's needed. I basically just did what I was directed to do. Sometimes it was handing out food, other times holding an infant whose mother had just passed away.”

“It sounds like heartbreaking work.”

“It was at times, but at least I felt I could make a difference.”

“I can see why that would have been important to you. Right,” May said, standing up and putting her pen and folder back on the desk. “Let's get you up on the examination table and check you over.”

To Piper's relief the rest of her check went smoothly,
inasmuch as something so intimate could go smoothly. May remained efficient and professional as she examined her thoroughly, occasionally asking questions and making notes as she went. She printed off a lab request and gave it to Piper.

“Take this through to the lab so we can complete these tests and then you're all done. I'll give you a script for some prenatal vitamins and folate. As soon as you've had the blood and urine tests done, you can fill the prescription and start taking them.”

“So you don't see any problems with me falling pregnant fairly quickly?” Piper asked.

“Every case is different, but you've been pregnant before and there really isn't any reason why you should have any worries this time around. The only thing that could be a concern is the malaria. Should you relapse while you're pregnant, it could make treatment difficult and cause problems for the baby.”

Piper swallowed. She'd contracted the illness in Africa, early on in her volunteer work. It was her own fault in blithely ignoring the warnings and not keeping her antimalaria routine up-to-date. The wake-up call had been a harsh one. She'd been fortunate not to experience a severe relapse since, but there were no guarantees she'd continue to be so lucky.

“Problems?”

“Many of the drugs used in the treatment of malaria are contraindicated during pregnancy. Have you experienced a relapse since your infection?”

“No, I haven't.”

“Then let's hope that continues, hmm? We'll monitor you carefully, though.”

May continued on with some further instructions for Piper on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. By the time Piper found herself back in the car park, her newly filled prescription clutched in one hand, Wade's car key in the other, her head was spinning. What had she let herself in for? The rami
fications of what she'd agreed to were suddenly all too real and with that reality, fear of failure stole anew into her heart.

During the drive back home she considered their agreement in-depth. This was a monumental thing she had consented to. She had to make sure that this worked, for everyone's sake, but most importantly, for that of their child.

 

Wade let himself in through the front door later that night and heaved a sigh of relief to be home. As cute as May and Paul's daughter Maggie was, a whole evening with her was enough to wear out the hardiest of men. She was going to be a heartbreaker when she grew up, though, that was for sure. A feeling of intense protectiveness swamped him—as if he'd ever let anyone near enough to Maggie for her to break their heart.

It worried him sometimes, this fierce need to protect a child who wasn't even his. If he was this bad now, how would he feel about his own? He knew, better than most, how hardy children were. How they needed to push boundaries and find their paths in the world. But right now the idea of wrapping little Maggie in cotton wool and tucking her away somewhere safe for the rest of her life was inordinately appealing.

He couldn't wait to be a father. His own had been no role model and he was determined to prove that he could not only be more successful than the man who'd refused to continue to raise him, but he would be a far, far better parent. No child of his would ever be discarded. Not for any reason.

He cast a glance upstairs. From here he could see the door to Piper's room. The landing was dark with not so much as a glimmer of light from beneath her bedroom door. He was relieved she was in bed already—goodness knew every interaction they'd had so far had been fraught and contentious. After the day he'd had in the office where nothing had seemed to go right, and the evening with Maggie, who'd been way
more demanding than usual, he was in no mood to go another round with Piper.

He turned toward the library so he could put his briefcase and laptop by the desk for an early start in the morning. As he opened the door he was surprised to see a movement in the darkened room. Only a slight glow from the fireplace lent illumination, casting a golden light across the very last person he wanted to see right now. She was dressed much as she'd been this morning, in her nightgown and her father's robe. Except the robe had fallen open as she'd dozed with her feet drawn up under her on the wingback chair, revealing smooth tanned skin and the slight swell of one breast exposed by the open buttons of her pristine white cotton nightgown.

She must have sensed him in the room because she shifted in the chair, her eyes opening, searching for him. “Wade?”

She sounded drugged with sleep.

“You were expecting someone else?” he countered, dryly.

And just like that she was wide awake. “Don't be ridiculous. I wanted to talk to you about the agreement. There's an addition I've made.”

“An addition?”

When was she going to understand that she really didn't call the shots in this situation? He shook his head wearily.

“Piper, the agreement was drawn up in accordance with our earlier discussion—including your specific conditions. You cannot keep on amending it.”

“It's just one change.”

“Well, spit it out.”

“I'd rather you read it, actually.”

Piper walked over to his desk and picked up the folder she'd obviously put there. She opened it and took out the agreement, flicking through the pages until she found what she was looking for. He reached across the desk and flipped on the lamp, the sudden illumination revealing just how sheer
the cotton of her nightgown was and how exquisitely shaped her nipples were as they pressed against the fabric.

His mouth dried and, if he hadn't known better, he would have thought all the blood in his body had just headed south. Wade tore his gaze from her and forced himself to accept the document. He leaned down over the desk, fighting his awareness of her standing next to him, desperately trying to ignore the alluring shadows of her form. As if she was aware of the torture she was putting him through, she grabbed the edges of her robe and wrapped them tightly across her body, tying the sash firmly at her slender waist.

Wade felt a momentary tug of regret before forcing his mind to the matter at hand. Her closely formed handwritten notes used clear and succinct language.
Very
clear and succinct language, he thought with an inner smile. So she didn't want him seeing other women. Given her response this morning it shouldn't surprise him. She'd been prickly when she'd thought he had a booty call rather than a babysitting assignment.

Knowing she was jealous of his other women was strangely satisfying, but the knowledge was, at the same time, a little unsettling. How did he really feel about that? Did he honestly want to pursue an exclusive relationship with Piper? Relationship should be the wrong word, but just the thought of it was enough to fill his chest with an unexpected warmth. He quelled the feeling almost immediately. This was Piper Mitchell he was talking about. He'd learned his lesson once, the hard way. He wasn't masochistic enough to involve his emotions with her again.

He straightened from the desk abruptly. Piper took a step back in reaction.

“Is that all?” he asked quietly.

She looked startled. Had she expected him to argue with her? To refuse to sign? Did she have no concept of what this child meant to him? Or how important it was that he regain
from her what she'd taken? He'd have all but signed away his soul to get what should have been rightfully his all along.

“Y-yes,” she stammered.

“Fine, I'll get my PA to witness my signature at work tomorrow and we can get down to business.”