The Paternity Pact
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Cat Schield
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HarlequinOne
“Well, I must say,” declared Rose Everett-Schuster, “I’m shocked to see you here tonight.”
The evening’s wine tasting, silent auction and fashion show at Spoon and Stable, a French-inspired café on Royal’s main square, had been organized by Beth Wingate in support of her younger sister Harley’s nonprofit organization, Zest, which operated in various overseas countries.
“I donated a case of 2014 Château Pierre de Dupré Medoc for the tasting,” Grant Everett replied, knowing that offering his sister, Rose, a deliberate nonanswer would only intensify her curiosity. He maintained a bland expression even as his pulse accelerated when his peripheral vision caught his older sister’s raised eyebrows and pointed gaze. “As well as a 2016 Château Margaux Bordeaux for the silent auction.”
“I’m not sure that a wine donation fully explains what prompted our town’s leading fertility specialist to leave his ivory tower and mingle with the masses,” Rose said. “There must be something special about this particular charity that brought you out tonight.”
Except for a single colossal bungle that he’d kept to himself these last five years, he wasn’t a man given to secrets. Not that he was an open book. Grant didn’t run around sharing his thoughts and opinions like sticks of gum, and as a medical professional, he strictly adhered to doctor/patient confidentiality.
Muttering under his breath, he cursed the impulse that compelled him to show up at a benefit for Zest when he rarely put in an appearance at any of the other charity events Rose invited him to. He had little patience for crowds or small talk and preferred to make his philanthropic contributions by way of his checkbook. But what explanation could he give that would satisfy his sister without betraying the real reason Zest had been on his radar since its inception three years earlier?
“It’s a good cause,” he retorted.
“They’re all good causes,” Rose drawled, displaying a dogged determination to pull some sort of admission from him. “The only thing that makes this one different is that this particular party benefits Harley Wingate’s nonprofit.”
“I’m not following you,” Grant said, giving his sister his full attention.
Although Rose kept her eyes and ears open to glean news about Royal’s wealthiest families, accumulating tidbits of gossip about everyone gathered here tonight, he suspected she was merely fishing. She couldn’t possibly know how he felt about the Wingate family’s youngest daughter. Hell, he wasn’t sure he could define his conflicted emotions whenever she popped into his thoughts.
“A certain prodigal daughter who has recently returned home after mysteriously disappearing abroad.”
“Who?” It was a weak comeback and from the way his sister’s gaze drilled into him, Grant recognized that he wasn’t fooling her.
“You know,” Rose prompted. “The woman you disappeared with after the annual TCC ball five years earlier? And spent the weekend with.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Rose’s lips curved into a satisfied smirk at whatever insight she gleaned from his expression. “Everyone wondered why she left Royal so suddenly a few weeks later.”
“That had nothing to do with me,” he countered, noting that his voice sounded a shade too abrupt. He silently cursed that he’d been provoked into explaining himself. Normally, Grant wouldn’t let his sister’s ribbing get under his skin, but what had happened with Harley and how he’d behaved during their last encounter filled him with regret.
“You changed after she left.”
“Changed how?”
“You married Paisley,” Rose went on in a more sympathetic tone. “And after realizing what a mistake that was, threw yourself even deeper into work.”
At the mention of his ex-wife, he tossed back the last of his scotch and grimaced as it burned his throat. Although this was only his second drink of the night, he’d consumed both in a short span of time and could feel the alcohol buzzing in his system, awakening his emotions and unraveling his ability to use logic to stop his sister from intruding on his private pain.
Grant pivoted away from his sister and allowed his gaze to roam the restaurant. “I don’t want to discuss Paisley.”
Their three-year marriage had given him an all-too-clear picture of his shortcomings when it came to romantic relationships. He’d lost count of how many times she’d accused him of lacking a heart and proclaimed that he’d never loved her. Not once had he argued the opposite. In truth, he’d chosen to marry Paisley based on her attractiveness and suitability as the wife of a successful doctor and a member of one of Royal’s wealthiest families. Too late, he’d discovered that she’d believed her love could change him into the adoring family man she needed. Instead, her suffocating attentiveness drove him to spend even longer hours at the hospital.
“I know that you hate to fail and what happened in your marriage is a sore spot with you,” Rose said softly. “I just hope that you realize that trying again with the right woman will make all the difference.”
Grant shook his head, wishing he could make his sister understand that his tendency to prioritize his work over relationships kept him from being husband and/or father material. He would just have to be satisfied with making other families’ dreams come true.
“I must say, I’m quite impressed.” A petite dark-haired woman had appeared on Rose’s left, providing a much-welcomed interruption. Henrietta Sinclair pointed at the jewel-bright sundress created by the women of Zest and modeled by her daughter Regan, along with a dozen of the town’s best-known fashionistas. “The entire collection is beautiful and so well made.”
“All the fabric used is organic cotton with vegetable dyes,” Rose said, highlighting the talking points from the brochure in her hands.
“What Harley Wingate has done is just marvelous,” Henrietta murmured. “Her family should be so proud.”
“Yes,” Rose murmured. “I imagine that given the girl she was before she left town, none of them expected her to amount to much.”
This last remark from Rose grated on Grant’s nerves and he used his sister’s distraction to excuse himself and slip away. As he wandered through the crowd, he noted that several faces reflected surprise as he strode past. Although he was well-known by this particular crowd because of his philanthropy, his expertise as a fertility specialist and his membership in the Texas Cattleman’s Club, the fact that he’d attended less than a handful of social events since his divorce meant his appearance tonight had stirred up people’s curiosity.
He doubted anyone besides Rose would guess he’d shown up at this particular event because of Harley Wingate. Or that she’d been the woman who’d inspired his atypical behavior at that fateful Texas Cattlemen’s Club ball. The two friends he’d been standing between had no clue that his heart had given an explosive bang when he’d first spied her. Between his discretion and their thirteen-year age difference—an important detail he hadn’t known at the time—no one would’ve imagined he’d be attracted to a girl who’d just graduated from high school. Much less that he would spend the next two days in bed with her.
Grant shuddered as he replayed how he’d felt when he’d learned the truth. He’d abruptly ended their weekend together, horrified by the image of himself as a corruptor of innocents. Not that he would use that word to describe Harley. Quite the opposite. In a slinky dress of peacock blue that skimmed her slim figure while baring her delicate shoulders and well-toned arms, Harley had moved about the ball with the confidence of a woman aware of the sensual power she wielded. In the aftermath of their weekend together, he’d realized that she’d pursued him with the same focused intent of a bounty hunter on the trail of a big score.
She’d been just the right amount of flirtatious as she’d peppered him with thoughtful questions about his work and his family’s philanthropy. He’d been utterly charmed by the frank admiration in her velvet green eyes and riveted by her playful smiles that showed off the minor gap between her two front teeth. Each time her hand had grazed against him, his libido had taken a direct hit. Famished for a taste of her sweet lips, well before the last song of the night, he’d tugged her into an isolated alcove and kissed her until neither of them could breathe.
Just thinking about that night and the two that followed awakened a rush of longing within him. He shoved down the sharp hunger even as his gaze raked the crowd, automatically searching for a slim beauty with long straight brown hair. A chaotic stew of eagerness and apprehension twisted his gut and sent awareness tickling across his skin. Grant cursed beneath his breath, calling himself all sorts of a fool.
Obviously, attending tonight’s party had been a mistake. The five years hadn’t blunted his interest in Harley. Confronting this fact revived the question he’d dwelled on far too often since learning that she’d come home from her overseas travels.
Was their thirteen-year age difference any less remarkable now that he was thirty-six and she twenty-three?
Yes. No. Maybe.
Grant touched the traces of premature gray that had touched his temples in the last year. Men dated younger women all the time without anyone making a big deal out of it. But it hadn’t just been their age gap that had set him off. It was the way being with her had awakened his emotions and made him behave in ways contrary to his normal, logical self. It continued to bother him that he’d turned a blind eye to the consequences of his actions.
Sure, the sex had been explosive, but he’d attributed their chemistry to the secrecy enveloping their tryst. Engaging in a one-night stand with a beautiful stranger was the wrong sort of behavior for a man in his position. That he’d known he was taking a risk before the hotel-room door shut behind them hadn’t stopped him from spending the next two days learning every inch of her body and very little else about her.
She’d given him only her first name and he hadn’t connected her to the Wingate family. Even once Grant had discovered Harley’s full identity, he couldn’t reconcile his vague memory of the lanky teenager he’d seen in passing at the Texas Cattleman’s Club with the passionate temptress who’d rocked his world. In the aftermath of their weekend together, he’d struggled to make sense of his body’s unrelenting desire for more nights with her.
In the grip of a craving that strengthened despite his dismay at lusting after a woman so much younger than himself, Grant had come to the decision that neglecting his personal life had caused his reckless behavior. Shortly after the TCC Ball where he’d met Harley, he’d begun dating a woman of suitable age and social status for Royal’s premier fertility doctor. The failure of their marriage after three years reinforced his previous opinion that he wasn’t cut out to be a family man.
Maybe after his weekend with Harley, he should’ve spent a week or a month indulging his appetite for her and purged her from his system. For a while, it might have been an ideal situation. She’d declared herself a free spirit with a whole world she was dying to explore. With neither one interested in being tied down, no doubt they both would’ve enjoyed the relationship for a time and then moved on.
As if his thoughts had conjured her, the crowd before him shifted and Grant realized Harley stood twenty feet away. The years abroad had created a subtle shift in her demeanor, transforming her youthful exuberance into vibrant elegance. Yet, he sensed a hint of discomfort beneath her bright smile as if she chafed at being the focus of so much attention.
Nevertheless, even as he sympathized, the familiar flare of attraction surged to life. He ground his teeth against the unwelcome rush of longing and cursed. Grant wasn’t one for brief and casual affairs. The impulsive weekend with Harley had been completely out of character for him and the abrupt and contentious end to their interlude had left him with unanswered questions and unresolved emotions.
But as their gazes locked and a mixture of anger and joy twisted his gut into knots, he was transported to another event. From the moment he’d spied her, nothing in his life had been the same. At the same time, Grant realized that the same beliefs that kept him from pursuing a relationship with a woman thirteen years his junior were still in effect. He might desire Harley Wingate with a fiery intensity, but acting on it was a mistake he would never make again.
The shock that went through Harley as she met Grant Everett’s eyes was different than what she’d experienced five years earlier, but no less potent.
The night of that fateful Texas Cattleman’s Club ball, she’d been an impetuous teenager brimming with cocky confidence, determined that the next man she slept with would know what the hell he was doing in bed. Up until that point, she’d only slept with her former boyfriend of nine months and found those experiences less than memorable. From what she’d gleaned from her friends, sex should be a lot more enjoyable than what she had been getting from Dean.
She’d set her sights on Grant after noticing several women watching him with intense interest. Some had even approached and flirted outrageously to catch his attention. His utter indifference had been the challenge Harley had been looking for. She’d been determined to succeed where all those beautiful ladies had failed and confident that by the end of the night, she’d have him wrapped around her finger.
While the evening hadn’t exactly gone according to plan, the next two days and nights had been more amazing than she could’ve dreamed possible. Surrendering herself to Grant’s masterful tutelage, she learned just how much pleasure her body could bear and by the end of their passionate weekend, she’d been forever changed.
Harley stood frozen in place while her body lit up with longing, anxiety, hope and despair. The emotions swarmed her like a cloud of hungry mosquitos. Her ears buzzed, drowning out the conversations around her. What should she do? Cross the crowded room and say hello or send him a come-hither sign and wait for him to approach her? The last time, she’d put herself in his path after which he’d pursued her with a vengeance, giving chase in a way that set her heart to pounding and awakened something hot and primitive inside her.
Before Harley decided how to proceed, Grant turned away and walked in the opposite direction. Flooded by keen disappointment, she scolded herself. Did she seriously expect that he’d see her across a crowded room and be irresistibly drawn to her side? A man like Grant wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“You okay?” Jaymes Owens asked, her blue eyes registering concern as she peered at Harley from beneath long, thick eyelashes.
As she blinked herself free of her memories, Harley realized that Grant was no longer in her line of sight. Had she imagined that he’d recognized her? They’d spent a single weekend together. Sure, the sex had been incredible, the sort of seismic-shifting passion that set impossible standards for every encounter since, but she’d often worried her own performance had left little impression.
“Sure,” she responded after her best friend nudged her arm. “Why?”
“Because you tensed up just now. Did your mother decide to put in an appearance?”
Harley shuddered. “Hardly.”
“You never know, she might show up.”
“I really hope she doesn’t.” She shrugged at the disgusted look Jaymes shot her. “This event tonight is a big deal for Zest. I don’t need her dumping truckloads of criticism and unwanted advice on me.”
“She only wants what’s best for you.”
“More like what she thinks is best.” Harley blinked against a sudden prickle of tears. “I don’t know why I thought that I could come back after five years and things would be different. I’m not the same person who left Royal, but everyone still treats me like the entitled eighteen-year-old I was. And worse is the way I fall back into old patterns of acting like a spoiled brat who expects to be treated like an equal. Part of me wishes I’d just stayed away.” Harley pushed the air out of her lungs in a dramatic sigh. “And that’s exactly the sort of immature attitude I want to overcome.”
The baby of the family, she’d grown up pampered and spoiled by her father and siblings. Anything she wanted, she wheedled and pouted until she got her way. Her father’s stroke just after her eighteenth birthday changed everything. With Trent Wingate incapacitated, their mother became the dominant parent and Harley’s world became a whole lot less fun.
Jaymes put her arm around Harley’s shoulders in a comforting hug. “You’ve only been in town a short while. Give yourself a little time to catch your breath before you start beating yourself up.”
“You’re right.” She straightened her spine and pushed away her melancholy.
“So, if it wasn’t your mother, who showed up that you didn’t expect?”
For a second, Harley considered downplaying her reaction, but she’d never kept things from her best friend. Why start now?
“I saw Grant.”
“Really?” Jaymes blurted, eyes widening “Are you sure?”
“Very.” The other woman’s acute surprise caused Harley’s heart to bang vigorously in her chest. “Is that unusual?”
“Very,” echoed Jaymes, growing reflective. “You know, he doesn’t show up at events like these. I bet he came because he knew you’d be here.”
“I can’t imagine how.” Harley tried to deny her escalating excitement, but the notion that Grant might have come tonight in order to see her made her giddy. “It’s not like he’d know Zest was my nonprofit.”
“I’ll bet he does.”
The disparaging sound Harley made didn’t change her friend’s optimistic expression. “I’m sure he hasn’t thought of me once in the last five years.”
“You don’t know that.”
Jaymes had been there with sympathy and advice when Harley returned from her weekend with Grant, humiliated and incensed after he’d freaked out upon learning her age. Confident that Jaymes would always have her back, Harley had spilled everything to her best friend about the encounter. The two girls were very different in how they approached life. Jaymes was a rock who led with her head; Harley a swiftly moving current, mercurial and prone to impulsive actions. Like disappearing overseas when she realized she was pregnant by a man she desired and who’d made it clear he wouldn’t ever consider a relationship with her.
Harley shook her head. “I’m sure I was barely a blip on his radar.” Something that couldn’t be said by her. Their encounter had left a lasting impression on her life. Especially in one very critical area.
“I’ll admit that I don’t know him all that well,” Jaymes said, “but everything I’ve heard about him indicates that he’s always been a workaholic and hasn’t been romantically linked to anyone except his ex-wife. I’m quite sure that what happened between you two was an anomaly for him.”
“Meaning?” Harley hated the way her heart jumped for joy at her friend’s comment.
“That the weekend probably stands out in his mind.”
“As something he’d never do again,” she insisted, her buoyant mood dipping as she recalled how he’d started dating Paisley Barnes a few short weeks after the Texas Cattleman’s Club ball.
No doubt he’d deemed the stunning blonde far more suitable in both age and experience than Harley had been at the time. He’d been so utterly appalled to learn at the end of their weekend together that she’d recently graduated from high school and railed at her in outrage that she’d intentionally misled him about everything. She’d been humiliated at being chastised like a naughty child, and refused to acknowledge the flaw in portraying herself as something she wasn’t.
Harley sighed at the unpleasant memory and cringed at the way she’d stormed off like the overindulged brat she’d once been. When she’d made the decision to put Royal, Texas, in her rearview mirror, she hadn’t intended to be gone for so long. However, she’d discovered that being out from beneath her siblings’ shadows gave her a newfound sense of her strengths and a better understanding of her weaknesses. Worried that coming back to Royal would cause her to regress, she’d stayed away.
Eventually, however, she’d decided the best way to demonstrate that she’d matured was to face her fears. Even so, seeing Grant tonight filled her with dread. Despite how motherhood had forced her to grow up fast in the half decade since their last encounter, it hadn’t changed the thirteen-year age gap between them. Was it foolish to hope that he’d give her credit for what she’d gleaned while living abroad? After all, she’d started a successful nonprofit and learned to not only take care of herself and her son, but also hundreds of women who relied on Zest to lift them out of the ravages of extreme poverty.
Pride flared, momentarily banishing her angst. When she’d originally conceived her nonprofit, she hadn’t given much thought to how it might flourish and grow. She’d just recognized that people didn’t want a handout. They wanted a hand up. Teaching a marketable skill and creating a pipeline for selling the goods created pathways that enabled these women to improve their lives. Harley’s spark of an idea blew up into a giant blaze. But the issue of poverty was so enormous. The vast numbers of marginalized women in need of help so extensive. Thus, Zest was poised to grow beyond her ability to fund it. Especially now that her family’s present business woes had reduced the Wingate corporate donations she used to keep Zest afloat from a wide river to a dry creek bed.
“Harley?” Jaymes had to prod Harley back to the present.
“Sorry.” She grimaced at her friend’s obvious concern. “I was thinking about Zest.”
“We were talking about Grant.”
“I know, but of all the problems I have at the moment, Zest’s are the least likely to freak me out.” Harley leaned into Jaymes and wrapped her arm around the other woman’s waist. “You’ve been so remarkable all these years. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. If not for your emotional support and all your amazing connections for Zest, I would be lost.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Jaymes said with a fond chuckle. “But you’re welcome.”
“And for letting me stay with you until I can find a place to rent for the next few months.”
“Are you kidding? Sean and I love having you and Daniel around.”
Jaymes had moved in with Sean Cavanaugh the year before after nearly two years of dating. The couple were devoted to each other, but seemed happy with the slow progress of their relationship.
“It’s wonderful how great Sean is with Daniel.”
“And vice versa,” Jaymes put in. “Makes you realize that your boy needs a man in his life.”
“It does,” Harley agreed, guilt stabbing at her. “I know now that I was wrong to think I was all the parent he needed.”
This statement encapsulated her motivation for returning to Royal, instead of a big city like Dallas, when her funding dried up for Zest. She hadn’t realized the impact not having a father was having on Daniel until the mother of one of his friends shared that he had been telling wild stories about his father and all the incredible things the man was doing that kept him away. Harley’s heart had broken as she’d learned how her son’s imagination was working overtime to compensate for the absence of such a vital person. It was then that she’d decided to do whatever it took to fix her blunder.
“You’re a great mom,” Jaymes hastened to say. “I’m just glad you realize that he should get to know his father, as well.”
Ever since learning she was pregnant, she’d grappled with telling Grant that he had a son. At first, she’d been freshly wounded by his rejection once he found out she was eighteen. She’d proved her immaturity by running away from her father’s debilitating illness and her mother’s harshness. Months later, alone in a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language and weak from morning sickness, she’d decided maybe Grant had been right to chastise her for being rash and selfish. Unfortunately for her, by the time she’d dredged up the courage to tell him about Daniel, Grant had been engaged to Paisley and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin his life.
“I know I should’ve done it before this, but nothing about coming back here has been easy.” On the endless international flight, she’d been paralyzed with anxiety over the best way to tell not just Grant that Daniel was his son but also confess the truth to her family. “And because I’ve kept Daniel from him all this time, explaining why I’ve waited so long is that much harder.” Her stomach knotted. “What if Grant rejects him?” Like he did me?
Jaymes tightened her grip. “He won’t. He’s dedicated his career to building families. Why wouldn’t he be thrilled to be a dad?”
Harley refrained from voicing the dozen or so answers that popped into her head.
“I’m just afraid that he’s going to be angry that I waited too long to tell him.” A lump lodged itself in Harley’s throat while the anxious fluttering in her chest disrupted her breath. “What if he spurns Daniel because I kept the truth hidden all this time?”
“He won’t.”
As much as Harley trusted her friend’s opinion, she couldn’t shake her fears. Five years ago, Grant hadn’t shown her any mercy after discovering that she’d deceived him about her age and his dismissal had been icy and ruthless. It had been one thing that Grant hadn’t wanted her, but what if he didn’t want his son, either? Recalling the conversation she’d had with Daniel after learning about the stories he’d made up, Harley’s heart ached anew for her sweet son. He deserved a father who loved him and gave him a reason to be proud.
“I hope you’re right.”
