Rachel Bailey - Return of the Secret Heir

“I promise you, Mr. Bramson,” she said, injecting her words with confidence, “the firm’s integrity has never been, nor will it be, compromised. As soon as I realized I couldn’t work with the necessary detachment, I excused myself from the case.”

There was silence for a moment before he let out a breath. “I appreciate that. Tell me something, off the record. Since you’ve come to know him, do you personally believe his claim to be Warner’s son?”

She looked at JT while she had his half brother on the phone, acutely aware she was trapped between two powerful men. All she could do was tell the truth. “Yes, I believe him. But that won’t affect the way I carry out my duties assisting Linda Adams.”

“Okay, good to know. Thanks for your work on the case and your honesty.”

She thumbed the off button and dropped the cell on her bedside table, moving slowly to give herself the extra few moments to compose herself before facing JT. She pulled a white silky robe from her cupboard and slipped her arms through the sleeves, then sat on the side of the bed.

“That was one of Warner’s sons,” she said needlessly as she looked at him.

His eyes were shuttered against her, his arms folded over his bare chest. “Can you tell me which one, or is that privileged information?”

“Ryder.” Being in the room with her during that call was probably as close as he’d ever come to either of his half brothers-to anyone on the paternal side of his family-so she waited patiently for him to process the information.

JT nodded. “The legitimate one.”

“Yes,” she said, wishing she could climb back into the bed and hold him, to find what he needed in this moment and give it to him. But JT Hartley wasn’t a man who appreciated any form of sympathy. Especially from her. He’d shared his body, but he hadn’t shared even a sliver of his heart.

“Apparently,” he said, the bitterness only faint in his voice, “it was to protect Warner’s engagement to Ryder’s mother that my mother was chased out of town.”

“Warner’s wife came from a rich family.” She didn’t like to be cynical, but the media had speculated for years that the reason Warner hadn’t divorced his wife and married his long-term mistress was the chance he’d lose too much money in the process-most of the money had come from her. A man like that wouldn’t want his financially advantageous marriage jeopardized before it had started.

He cocked his head to the side. “What do you think of Ryder?”

She thought of the tall man with the rugged features. He was straight down the line and had been nothing but courteous to her. “I think he’s a good man.”

“A good man who married to get more stock in his family company.” He arched an eyebrow. “That sounds a whole lot like his father to me.”

The media had gone crazy when Ryder’s engagement to Macy Ashley had been leaked, and the implications for Bramson Holdings became apparent-he acquired her family company and its ten-percent stock in Bramson Holdings at their wedding. Perfect timing as he headed into a battle for control of the board with his other half brother, Seth Kentrell.

“I know it appeared that way, but I’ve seen Ryder with Macy and there’s something special between them. They’re in love.” Pia’s insides had twisted tight when she met Macy at a fundraising ball and seen her obvious affection for her husband, and his for her.

JT’s eyes said he didn’t believe it, but he didn’t say the words aloud. “Have you met the other one?”

She nodded. “Seth Kentrell.” Dark hair, midnight blue eyes, always in perfect control of himself and situations around him.

“Seems he’s recently engaged, too,” JT said with cynicism. “Again it had something to do with the family business.”

“Not in the way you think. He had some delicate negotiations with April Fairchild over the ownership of a hotel. It would have been difficult for him, so soon after losing Jesse.” Seth’s brother-JT’s third half brother-who’d recently died in a car accident. Her heart cramped as she remembered being the one to break the news to Ryder about a brother he’d never met. Such a sad, senseless loss of life.

“What was Jesse like?”

“Sweet.” She climbed farther onto the bed and rested against the headboard within touching distance of JT. “He didn’t seem to want anything to do with the family business.”

“We had that in common,” he said harshly. And she knew behind the harshness were seven levels of pain that he would always hide and that thought made tears threaten at the back of her eyes.

Knowing all the brothers, she could see the perspective of each. She’d give almost anything for Ryder and Seth to just acknowledge JT-or at least allow the DNA test that would prove the connection, then acknowledge him-but it was hard to judge their choices without having walked in their shoes.

She tucked her feet up under herself and pulled the sash of her robe tighter. “Ryder and Seth are both good men stuck in an awkward position by their father. Under different circumstances, you’d probably like them both.”

JT looked across at the woman he’d just made love to. A woman who seemed like a stranger in this moment. “You think I could like two men who actively work to keep their own biological brother from what should rightfully be his? To deny that he’s even their brother?” He shook his head. “These don’t sound like good men to me.”

Restless, he stood and reached for his trousers. As he zipped them up, he ran back over the conversation she’d had with Ryder Bramson and his hands gradually stilled.

“You’ve been taken off the Bramson estate,” he said without looking up. “Because of me.”

She climbed out of the bed and began to collect her clothes from the floor. “Not removed completely, simply moved to assisting another lawyer who’s taken the lead.”

His gut clenched like a vise. Maybe he should have kept his distance. Her career could suffer because he’d involved her in his life again. Seemed he caused trouble for her no matter which decade they met in.

He rested his hands low on his hips. “They know you’re pregnant and I’m the father.”

She nodded as she slipped into her dress. “I told my boss the morning after we saw the doctor. I couldn’t keep something like that from him. It would have been unethical.”

She reached behind herself to do up her dress, but before she could find the zipper, he was there and pulled it up, holding her hair away from the teeth. “And he gave the case to someone else.”

“I handed it over,” she said as she turned around, tucking her hair behind her ears. “It was the right thing to do, if maybe a little later than I should have.”

He remembered when they’d first discussed this, the night he’d come to her apartment on his bike, full of confidence and wanting to lay ghosts to rest.

“You badly want this case, don’t you?”

“More than any other I’ve handled.”

He narrowed his eyes. “You said you’d be up for a promotion if you handled the case well.”

Her mouth twisted in a bad impersonation of a smile. “Turns out, becoming pregnant by a claimant to the will isn’t anyone’s idea of handling the case well.”

Wincing, he let loose an oath. “I’m sorry, Pia.”

“Don’t sweat it.” She shrugged and walked through to the living room. “He said that if I didn’t make any more mistakes and handled the rest of my caseload flawlessly, I’d still be in the running.”

Following her out, he rested a hip on the kitchen counter. “He must think highly of you.” She shrugged self-effacingly, and his brain raced ahead. “Working from home during your first trimester, is that something that would put you out of the running?”

“He wouldn’t say so officially,” she said slowly, as she collected the bags of supplies he’d bought her, “but maybe. I’ve become less reliable to the firm in the last couple of months.”

“Since I showed up,” he said and blew out a breath, wishing he could kick himself.

She didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.

He’d compromised her career and there was no denying it. In fact, the paperwork for his claim on Warner Bramson’s will was prepared and ready to be lodged, and that would cause things to heat up even more for her at work.

His eyes dropped to her belly, where their little boy or girl was safely nestled, and felt a twinge deep in his chest. They were in too far for him to walk away, but this wasn’t fair for her. She’d told him to stay away the day he’d ambushed her at her office and he hadn’t listened.

The one thing he could do for her was hold off on lodging the claim. He’d call his attorney, Hendricks, and tell him to put it in a drawer until Pia was back at work and able to fend for herself with her bosses. It was the least he should do.

As JT took her hand in his and they stepped out onto the bustling street from the downtown car park, Pia allowed herself to relax. Less than an hour ago, Dr. Crosby had given the all clear for Pia to return to work-now that her blood pressure was back in the normal range and she was into her second trimester. JT had suggested going out to dinner to celebrate. After being cooped up for so long, the idea had appealed. And because it had been an early evening appointment, they’d driven straight over to an Italian restaurant JT knew for an early meal.

Dusk was falling, the streetlights were casting shadows across the pavement, her baby was fine, and JT’s hand was warm encircling hers-her heart sighed with the perfection of the moment.

She smiled up at him. “Thank you for suggesting this.”

“You’re welcome.” His expression turned thoughtful as he guided her through a well-lit doorway into a brightly decorated but cozy restaurant. “I hadn’t thought about you wanting to get out-I should have done it sooner.”

A flamboyant waiter seated them and took their drinks orders, leaving them with menus. There were only two other tables occupied, but it was still too early for the dinner rush.

“The risotto is good here,” JT said as he perused the list.

Unobserved, she looked at him over the top of her foldout menu, at where the strong column of his throat met the crisp white collar of his shirt, at his sensual bottom lip, at the dark hair that fell over his forehead as he looked down. A delicious shiver raced across her skin. Risotto wasn’t the only good thing here.

“Thanks for the tip,” she said a little unevenly, “but I’m dying for a big bowl of pasta.”

He glanced up, vibrant green eyes trained on her face. “You should have said. I can make pasta.”

She shrugged and broke the eye contact. “The craving only started when you chose Italian.”

The waiter arrived back with a flourish and took their order. Once they were alone, Pia looked out to the darkening street, brightness streaming down from streetlamps and from the headlights of passing cars. Two spindly trees on the sidewalk were covered in fairy lights that matched those on the front of the restaurant, creating a magical atmosphere. Her skin tingled. Anything seemed possible on this night that she and JT were joined in celebrating.

Since she’d invited him into her bed, he’d stayed, spending each night making glorious love to her. There had been no point playing coy and banishing him after she’d given her body to him once more. And in some ways, it had been inevitable that he’d ended up in her bed after he’d moved in-seeing him emerge from her bathroom in the mornings, chest bare, hair damp, had kept her on the very edge of temptation.