The Manning Brides: Marriage of Inconvenience / Stand-In Wife

“I … I considered seducing you.”

This time, Rich was unfortunate enough to be in the process of swallowing a mouthful of coffee. It stuck halfway down his windpipe and completed its course only after a bout of violent coughing.

“Are you all right?” Jamie asked.

“You honestly considered seducing me?” That idea was even more ludicrous than the first one she’d had.

“Briefly,” she admitted. “But sex between us would upset everything, don’t you think? Your friendship’s far too valuable to me to ruin it over something physical.”

“I’m glad to hear it.” So she’d considered luring him into her bed. Jamie Warren was certainly full of surprises this evening.

“I’m … not sure I could’ve done it,” she said as she lowered her gaze to her hands, which were tightly clenched in her lap. “I mean … well, you know what I mean.”

Rich wasn’t convinced he did, but he pretended otherwise and simply nodded.

Jamie reached for her coffee and took one tentative sip. “Do you have any questions? I mean, I’m sure you do, and I want to reassure you in any way I can.”

“Not yet.” He couldn’t seem to think clearly, let alone form sensible questions. “You say you’re not looking for emotional or financial support?”

“Correct.”

“So I’m not supposed to feel anything toward this child?”

Her eyes widened. “I … don’t know. I hadn’t thought about it in those terms. If it would make things easier for you, I could move out of the area after the baby’s born, or … before. Whichever you prefer.”

He didn’t like that strategy at all. “What about our parents?”

“What about them?” She seemed puzzled.

Rich couldn’t speak for Jamie’s mother, but he knew his own, and she’d give him an earful the minute she heard about this craziness. “You don’t expect our parents to accept this sitting down, do you?”

“I don’t plan to tell them.”

He gaped at her. “What do you intend to do? Run off and have the baby and then go home and present our parents with a surprise grandchild?”

“My mother, yes, but not yours. I don’t intend to tell anyone you’re the baby’s father. That’ll be between you and me. No one else needs to know. As far as my mother’s concerned, all I’m going to say is that I was artificially inseminated, but not by whom. That would only complicate matters, don’t you think?”

This didn’t work any better for Rich than Jamie’s other ideas, especially the one about moving away. He rubbed his face, hoping that would help him sort out his thoughts. It didn’t.

“I suppose you’ll want a few days to think this over?” She eyed him speculatively. It was apparent she’d like her answer as quickly as possible, but that was just too bad. This was too important a decision to be made quickly. He needed to weigh all the concerns carefully, think through the pros and cons.

He found the whole situation unsettling. Sure he’d like to be a father, but he’d prefer that it happened in the traditional way. His first instinct was to reject her suggestion outright, but Jamie was staring at him with those big, round eyes of hers, obviously doing her best not to sway him. To his regret, Rich discovered that he couldn’t turn down her request without at least considering it. Their friendship was worth that much.

“Give me a week,” he said after a strained minute or two.

“A week,” she repeated slowly. “Should I call you or will you call me?”

“I’ll call you.”

She nodded and stood up to leave, pausing at the front door. “Before I go, there’s one more thing I’d like to say.”

“Yes?”

“I … I truly believe we’d have a beautiful child, but if it isn’t meant to be, then I can accept your decision. I’m going to have a baby. I’d just rather it was yours than some stranger’s.” With that, she was out the door.

After she’d left, Rich resumed pacing, unable to stand still. His thoughts were a tangle of confused reactions, and part of him was laughing at the absurdity of Jamie’s proposition.

Their baby! Their baby?

They’d never even kissed, and she was proposing they create a child together.

She’d told him she expected nothing from him, other than the pregnancy. Although he was sure she hadn’t meant to sound so cold and calculating, that was exactly what Rich felt. She’d made it seem so … impersonal. Even that parting shot about having a beautiful child got to him. With those hazel-green eyes of hers and his height … He forcefully pushed the idea from his head.

Although he’d asked for time to make his decision, Rich already knew what his answer would be.

He wanted no part of this craziness.

Jamie made a genuine effort not to think about Rich for the next few days. She’d stated her case, explained what needed to be explained without resorting to emotions.

A hundred times since their talk, she’d thought of all the things she might’ve said to get him to agree….

Her mind was muddled with regrets. Rich was a good friend. Too good to risk ruining their relationship because she was determined to have a child.

She’d insulted him. She’d known, from his stunned look, that his immediate instinct had been to say no. Good grief, who wouldn’t? It was only because of their friendship that he’d been courteous enough to consider her proposal.

Not for the first time, Jamie repressed the urge to call him and withdraw the suggestion. With everything in her, she wished she hadn’t said a word. And in the same instant she prayed with all her heart, with all her being, that he’d say yes.

If only she’d approached him differently.

If only she’d told him how much his child would mean to her, how she’d love that child her whole life.

If only she’d assured him what a good mother she was going to be.

If only …

Rich had made plans to go to his brother Jason’s apartment on Sunday afternoon to watch the Seahawks football game. Since Rich had given Bill Hastings their fifty-yard-line tickets, the least Rich thought he could do was bring the beer.

Close to one, nearly an hour late, Rich arrived at his brother’s with a six-pack of Jason’s favorite beer in one hand and a sack full of junk food in the other.

“About time you got here,” Jason muttered when he opened the front door. “The kick-off’s in less than five minutes.”

“I brought a peace offering,” Rich announced, holding up the six-pack. It wasn’t like him to be late, and he half expected an interrogation from his brother. He was grateful when it looked as though he was going to escape that. If Jason did grill him, Rich didn’t know what he’d say. Certainly not the truth. That he’d been so consumed with indecision over Jamie’s proposal, he’d lost track of the time.

“It’s going to take a whole lot more than a few beers to make up for the loss of those tickets, little brother,” Jason complained as he led Rich to the sofa. “Last I heard, scalpers were getting three hundred bucks for this game, and my brother gave ours away.” There was more than a touch of sarcasm in Jason’s voice. “I still don’t understand how Bill Hastings ended up getting our tickets.”

Rich had been purposely vague about the exchange. “He did me a favor.”

“You couldn’t have bought him dinner?”