Karen Sandler - The Boss's Baby Bargain

It sounded so crass, laid out like that. He didn’t like the negative light Allie’s promise to marry him shed on her.

“I see,” John said. “And how long will your…commitment last?”

Tension tightened in Lucas’s stomach at John’s evasion of the word marriage. “Until the adoption is finalized. I hope things will move faster with the hurdles out of the way.”

“Even with private adoption, that could be a year or two,” John cautioned.

“I told her as much.” A year or two of living with Allie filled Lucas with an unexpected excitement. He paced across the porch, moving from one end of the house to the other.

John’s next statement brought him back to earth. “I assume you’ll want a pre-nup drawn up.”

A prenuptial agreement? Lucas hadn’t even considered that aspect. Something in him balked at the idea of asking Allie to sign a document protecting his assets. It seemed an insult to a woman who had been nothing but honorable as long as he’d known her. “Is that necessary?”

“I highly recommend it,” John said.

Lucas sighed. “How soon can you have it ready?”

“When’s the wedding?”

“Last weekend in September.”

“I’ll have it done by the end of next week.”

His mind working feverishly, Lucas re-crossed the porch. Beyond him, the gnarled branches of his vineyard glowed orange in the last of the setting sun, each vine heavy with grapes, Chardonnay and Zinfandel. He had so much, surely he could spare more than the twenty thousand he’d promised.

“I want to include a sizeable settlement for Allie.” Lucas named an amount, then immediately wondered if he should double it.

“You can’t be serious!” John protested. “Carol didn’t even get that much.”

“There wasn’t as much to give back then. Allie’s sacrificing one or more years of her life. It’s only fair.”

A thought niggled at him that it might have been fairest to simply loan her the money without the commitment of marriage. But he pushed it aside, determined to continue.

After he said his goodbyes to John, he considered calling Allie. He wanted to tell her about the pre-nup, about the additional compensation he was awarding her. He felt an urgency to cement the deal between them.

Pushing open the French doors leading back into the house, he strode to the kitchen cabinet where the phone books were kept. He could boot up his computer and get her home number from the company database, but this would be quicker. He’d found her number and was about to dial it when doubt lapped at him. Maybe he should leave her be tonight. He’d already dumped a mountain of turmoil in her lap, maybe she needed some breathing space.

He set down the phone on the counter and headed for the stairs, pausing only to grab his briefcase. But two hours later, he’d accomplished none of the tasks he’d brought home with him. He could think of nothing but Allie’s face, her lips, the taste and feel of her against his tongue. Just as he thrust aside one sensual image, another rose to take its place.

It was only lust, he told himself, and lust he could control. As long as those baser feelings didn’t give way to other, more intimate, more vulnerable emotions, he would be safe.

So, as he lay in his bed courting sleep, he allowed himself the harmless fantasies. When he finally slept, the eroticism followed him into his dreams. But as morning neared, the sensual haze parted and he saw only Allie’s face, her soft green eyes on him, her lips curved in a smile.

When he woke, he refused to acknowledge the inexplicable ache inside him. But it clung to him, nonetheless, as he dressed, ate a hurried breakfast, drove to TaylorMade headquarters. It eased only when he walked off the elevator and saw Allie waiting for him, a tentative smile on her face.

Everything had changed, Allie realized as she watched Lucas stride toward her desk. Because of their agreement…because of their kiss. Telling him she’d had second thoughts, that she no longer intended to go through with the marriage wouldn’t bring things between them back the way they were before. In that one moment when his lips touched hers, the world had shuddered to a stop on its axis and had begun to spin an entirely different way.

He nodded at her as he passed, then waited at his door for her to follow. She wondered if he’d read her mind, had realized she wanted to talk to him. Then she remembered this was the way they started every morning, with his appointment book, going over his day.

As she picked up the laptop computer she stored all his engagements on, she mentally placed her declaration at the top of their to-do list. She had no intention of letting this slide as she had her request for a loan. They had to clear the air immediately.

She shut the door behind her, then crossed the room to set the computer in its usual place on his desk. As it powered up, she opened her mouth to speak.

He beat her to it. “I spoke to my attorney last night and this morning. There are a few details about the marriage we need to go over.”

No mention of their kiss, as if it had never happened. Lucas was back in control and Allie realized he could easily steamroller her if she let him.

She stood up straighter before him. “Lucas, I’ve had a change of heart. I can’t marry you after all.”

Not a flicker of reaction in his face. He just sat down and motioned her to do the same. “The facts haven’t changed, Allie. Your needs and mine dovetail. I’ve already arranged to have the funds you requested transferred. Just give me your account number.”

As she brought the visitor chair up to the desk opposite him, she tried to frame what she’d rehearsed late into the night. She lowered herself into her chair, sat perched on the edge. “I intend to explore other avenues for the loan.” What those would be she had no idea. “I’m sorry I can’t help you with your…situation, but marriage is out of the question.”

Resting his arms on his desk, he leaned toward her. “Why?”

It was barely a question, more a demand for information. Why? she asked herself. Why couldn’t she marry him? Last night at 2:00 a.m., her bedsheets tangled around her legs from her restlessness, she’d had the answers. Now it seemed none of them would hold up to his scrutiny.

“Because we hardly know one another.” She groped for the words. “Because marriage…” Because marriage is far too intimate a relationship. Because it would force a false closeness on us neither one wants.

Because you kissed me.

“Allie.” He said her name so softly, almost tenderly, bringing her attention to him. His steel-gray gaze fixed on her face, his expression intent. “What I did last night…it was a mistake. A ridiculous mistake. I won’t repeat it. I promised you a platonic relationship. You have no reason to fear I’ll overstep those bounds again.”

Under his scrutiny, she could barely bring two thoughts together. “Even still, Lucas—”

“Please reconsider, Allie.”

Every ounce of self-preservation within her screamed no. His promise didn’t change the thread of attraction stretching between them, her secret yearning that Lucas would do exactly what he’d just vowed he would not.

And yet… She studied his face, the impenetrable mask he wore. His eyes were guarded, giving nothing away. But when her gaze dropped to his hands on his desk, her impressions shifted. He’d clenched his fingers together, all the tension in his body centered on the tendons and bones of his hands.

What could be going on inside him that made control so imperative? She’d always seen him as arrogant, autocratic. In the two years she’d worked for him, she’d had to struggle constantly to hold her own, to stand her ground. Marrying him would make that battle ten times worse.

And yet… His gaze met hers unflinchingly as the grip of his hands tightened. Suddenly, her heart ached for him. And she knew, despite the sure peril ahead, what she would say.

“Yes, then,” she said, nodding. “We’ll marry.”

A smile flashed on his face and was gone in an instant. Tension seemed to drain from his body. “Let me update you on my conversation with my attorney.”

He launched into an explanation of the terms and conditions of their prenuptial agreement, his tone as impersonal as if he were discussing an upcoming corporate takeover. This was a union between a man and a woman, a joining together that should be done in love. She wished she could reach inside him somehow and shake that fierce reserve. But he’d withdrawn behind his barriers, unreachable.

She knew one way to shake him. She’d seen it last night when he’d leaned into her car to kiss her. He hadn’t planned it, she was sure of that. Something other than his formidable mind had taken charge, pulled him to her.

What if she initiated a kiss? What if she rounded his desk right now and touched him? Slipped onto his lap, threaded her fingers into his hair and brought his mouth closer to hers? She’d gotten such a brief taste of him last night and the images had replayed themselves over and over in her mind as she’d tossed and turned in bed.

Closing her eyes, she raised her hands to her heated cheeks. She couldn’t let her thoughts stray like this. A chaste marriage with Lucas would be difficult enough without fantasies to distract her.

“Allie, is something the matter?”

Her eyes flew open to see him staring at her intently. Thank God he couldn’t read her mind. “I’m fine. What were you saying?”

“The prenuptial includes a settlement for you when the marriage terminates.”

Planning the ending of their marriage so cold-heartedly only heightened her misgivings. But she was committed now, no matter how wrong it felt. “I don’t need a settlement. You’re already loaning me the twenty thousand.”

“Giving, not loaning.”

“I’m planning to pay it back.”

“Don’t be pigheaded about this, Allie. The money is yours, free and clear as of today. The rest will compensate you for the one to two years this process could take.”

“It’s not a process, Lucas. It’s a marriage. An adoption of a child—a human being. You can’t keep treating this as some sort of business transaction.”

His fingers wrapped more tightly around the arms of his chair, the only indication she’d hit home with her comment. “You’re right, of course. But I intend to give you the settlement, nonetheless.”

“How much?” she asked warily.

“Two million.” He said the amount casually, as if he were only offering her a couple hundred.

“You’re crazy!” She leapt to her feet. “Totally nuts! That’s too much, Lucas.”

“The hell it is.”

“I can’t take that much.” She shook her head. “No way.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, his expression cold. “I’m damn well not budging on this, Allie.”

She stared at him, completely flabbergasted. This was a man she’d seen go toe-to-toe with hardened businessmen, shaving millions off a deal if he felt the price was inflated. How could he justify giving her so much money?

But there was no arguing with him, at least for now. She’d have to find a way to refuse the money when the time came. She nodded her head in acquiescence.

“Give me your account number,” he said, moving his chair up to the desk again. “Then we have to get on with the day. When’s my first meeting?”

Lifting the laptop from his desk, she sank into her chair, trembling. Every time she thought she might have the upper hand, he backed her into a corner. How would she handle two years of this?