Suzanne McMinn - The Billionaire And The Bassinet

How would he feel if Lanie were his wife and she was having his baby? Proud was the first word that popped into Garrett’s mind.

Then he thought about Vanessa. He and Vanessa had discussed having children, once or twice. That was as far as things had gotten.

That was as far as their marriage had gotten before Garrett had figured out that he’d been the biggest chump on planet Earth. Nothing like finding your wife in bed with another man to drive home the fact that trust was for idiots.

He wasn’t going to make that mistake again. Not with anybody. And for sure not with Lanie. She might have eyes like a newborn foal’s, but Garrett wasn’t going to be taken in that easily.

“That’s not my wife,” Garrett said suddenly, sharply. “In fact, I barely know her.” A fact he’d be well advised to remember, he added to himself.

The older woman looked startled.

Garret picked up a newspaper from the table next to him and held it in front of his face, discouraging any further communication. He struggled to concentrate on the black-and-white print. And he wondered why he hadn’t told Walter to send his sixty-year-old, stuffed-shirt personal attorney, Richard Houseman, on this little mission to Deer Creek.

“Now, remember, rest tonight, Lanie. And try not to worry.”

Lanie thanked the nurse as she slipped through the door between the inner and outer offices. Her gaze went straight to Garrett. He folded up the newspaper he held and dropped it on the table, standing as she approached.

“Are you all right?” he asked immediately.

“I’m fine.” Really, she wasn’t. She was worried sick. The examination’s conclusion was uncertain. Her pains had been erratic and had emanated from her lower abdomen rather than her back, leading Dr. Furley to suspect it was merely false labor. However, he had also reminded her that everyone’s experience was different, and she could well be exhibiting very early labor, after all. Only time would tell.

Dr. Fursley had reassured her that the baby was healthy and big enough to be born, and had performed another sonogram to reassure her. Still, Patty wouldn’t be back until Sunday night. Lanie was scared to death of going through labor without her coach.

“You’re sure you’re fine?” Garrett probed. He looked suspicious, as if he didn’t quite believe her.

“Yes, of course.”

She made an appointment with the receptionist for a regular prenatal visit the following week, determined not to tell Garrett any details. She wasn’t going to have this baby before at least Sunday night, that was all there was to it, and she had no intention of sharing the doctor’s warnings with Garrett. The information might up the coercion level for getting her to go back to Austin with him immediately, and as vulnerable as she felt, she didn’t think she was up to the confrontation.

She had to admit she was glad to have him there to drive her home, though. She was definitely feeling a little weak and shaky. And thankfully, he seemed to have accepted her assurances. He was quiet as he escorted her out to the car again.

Starting up the engine, he turned to look at her. “Nothing’s wrong? What about the pain you were having?” Garrett didn’t move the car as he waited for Lanie to answer.

So much for accepting her word for anything.

“I told you, I’m fine,” Lanie repeated, working to make her voice firm. Garrett’s piercing dark gaze, so much like Ben’s—and yet so different, unsettled her. She wasn’t used to having anyone worrying about her.

For just a moment Garrett’s attention and concern felt nice. Kind of warm and fuzzy, with just the right dash of the unknown.

Ben had certainly never worried about her. He’d always been too busy worrying about himself, angry and obsessed by his bitter emotional struggle with his father.

How would Walter Blakemore feel if he knew he was right about at least one thing about her—that his son’s marriage to her had been a mistake?

Reality reared up, ugly and painful. The Blakemores hated her. Garrett wasn’t worried about her. His concern and attention was not for her. He was worried about the possible Blakemore heir.

“It was just false labor, like I thought,” she forced herself to say blithely. “Now, please, I really have to get home. I have guests coming in tonight.”

She remembered suddenly she didn’t even have the room made up. Just thinking of the evening ahead made her bone weary. She’d had a full house the night before—and had intended them to be her last guests for a while. She’d taken care not to allow bookings for the month preceding her due date and for six weeks afterward, the most time she could afford to close the struggling B&B. But she’d been feeling chipper this morning when a couple had called for last-minute reservations.

She regretted the impulse that had made her accept the booking. She wasn’t feeling nearly so chipper now.

Garrett backed the car out of the parking space, but he wasn’t through with his questions.

“How do you know it’s false labor?” he asked as he swung the car into the street, heading in the direction of the B&B.

“The contractions were erratic,” Lanie explained briefly. “And they went away. Also, the pain began in my lower abdomen, rather than my lower back—which is where real contractions usually start.” She looked out the window, as if intensely interested in the scenery passing by, discouraging further conversation. She had no intention of elaborating.

They passed through the town square, complete with a courthouse surrounded on four sides by active businesses that clearly appealed to Hill Country tourism—a hotel, several restaurants and antique and novelty shops. In a few minutes they arrived at the Victorian B&B. Lanie unhooked her seat belt and shoved open the passenger-side door.

“Thank you for taking me to the doctor.”

“No problem.” Garrett removed his keys from the ignition.

“I’m sorry you made this trip out here for nothing,” she said with almost painful civility. “I really don’t think there’s anything else for us to talk about.”

“Lanie—”

“I’m not going back to Austin with you,” she said, cutting Garrett off. “And I don’t even want to discuss those tests.”

“Lanie—”

“Walter can believe whatever he wants to believe. I merely felt it was my duty to inform him about Ben’s child. That’s all. I don’t want anything from him—not his help, and certainly not his money, if that’s what he’s afraid of. Tell him he can relax.”

Salty pinpricks stabbed at Lanie’s eyes. What a time to get hormonal! she cursed inwardly, determined to put the emotion down to her pregnancy rather than to the idea that she might give a hoot about what Ben’s father thought. Or Garrett, for that matter.

“Lanie—”

“Goodbye,” she managed, and got out of the car. She slammed the car door shut, wishing she could make a more graceful departure than that of a lumbering elephant, which was what she felt like at the moment.

She heard Garrett’s car door shut behind her and knew he’d gotten out, too. “Lanie, I’m not leaving. Not tonight, at least.”

Lanie’s shoulders drooped at Garrett’s words. She stopped in the middle of the street and swiveled to face him, wishing desperately that he would disappear. She was far too tired to deal with him.

“Look, I’m not going to press you about the tests. Not tonight.” Garret approached Lanie. She looked tired, and he knew the decision he’d just come to was the right one. Her golden waves shifted in the wind as she stood there, the long tresses swinging softly around her small shoulders. The afternoon sun caressed her bare cheeks, the warm light loving her smooth skin. Again Garrett experienced an oddly protective sensation.

He put it down to the fact that the baby Lanie carried might be Ben’s. This was about the baby, he reminded himself. Not Lanie.

“I heard what the nurse told you,” he went on. “You’re supposed to rest—and you have guests coming. I could stay and help.” He didn’t know what work this would entail, but he couldn’t see leaving her alone right now.

He wasn’t entirely convinced she was telling him everything about her visit with the doctor. Besides, nothing had been settled. He had to find out the truth, for Walter’s sake. For Ben’s sake.

And for his own, he realized abruptly. He had to know if Lanie was an innocent—or a liar. He didn’t even want to think about why that was suddenly so important to him. It simply was.

Lanie blinked. “You—help?”

She looked so shocked he didn’t know whether to laugh or be insulted. He was getting tired of her looking at him like he was Attila the Hun.

Not that he cared whether she liked him or not. Not at all. It was just that as long as she disliked him this intensely, he was going to have a hard time getting her to cooperate.

He gave her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Of course I can help. Why not?”

Chapter Three

Lanie noticed Garrett looked kind of nice when he smiled. Less like a power broker, and more like a human. He even had a dimple, just on the left side, which she hadn’t noticed before. Perhaps because the man didn’t seem to smile all that much.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to stay here tonight.” As tempting as his help sounded, she didn’t think having Garrett around, any more than necessary, would be a good idea at all. He hadn’t been in town five minutes before he’d started trying to take charge of her life—demanding tests on the baby, commanding her to go to Austin and live under the Blakemores’ thumbs until the baby’s birth, insisting he drive her to the doctor’s office.

Of course, driving her to the doctor’s had been a good idea, but none of the rest of it was. She didn’t want the Blakemores running her life—or worse, taking control of her baby.

“It’s a great idea,” Garrett persisted. “You need to rest, and I need a place to stay.”

“You could drive back to the city,” Lanie pointed out, pushing back the temptation he offered.

Help sounded awfully good, whether she wanted it to or not. She was just so tired.

She pulled herself together. “It’s not that far to Austin,” she dismissed. She turned her back on him and his help, trudging up the walk.

He came up behind her. “Are you always this stubborn?” he asked.

“Stubborn! Me?” Lanie stopped long enough to cast Garrett an arch look as he reached her side. “You’re the one who can’t take no for an answer.”

She arrived at the front door and scoured her handbag for her housekeys. She found them, then immediately proceeded to drop them on the ground.

Garrett started to retrieve the keys for her, but Lanie knelt, awkwardly, and snatched them before he could.

“Please leave me alone.” Tears stung at the back of her eyes again. Bending wasn’t her best event these days, but she shook off Garrett’s arm as he tried to help her straighten.

She felt as if she were teetering on the edge. Her exhaustion combined with the stress of the afternoon had been too much, and the last thing she wanted to do was break into one of those sudden bouts of hormonal tears that had plagued her throughout her pregnancy—right in front of Garrett.

She fumbled with the key, wiggling it into the hole, struggling with the old lock. Blinking back traitorous tears, she gratefully pushed the door open. A few more seconds and she could shut it in his face.

“Are you crying?”

She tried to ignore him as she moved through the doorway. He stuck his foot in the door and prevented her from closing it.