The Baby Bonus

“Looks like you didn’t have any trouble getting past the security gates.”

“No.”

She arched her brow in that imperious way that had amused him so often years ago. “I was led to believe my security system was top of the line and practically burglarproof. Obviously, that’s not true.”

Cole curved his mouth into a grin. “There’s nothing wrong with your system, princess. It’s actually among the best available. But one of the companies I own designs computer software for home security systems. It just so happens that your security firm uses my company’s software. Since I designed the program, I also know how to override the codes.”

“How convenient for you.”

“Yes. It is, isn’t it?”

A phone rang inside the house. “I’m afraid you’ll have to excuse me. That’s probably my Aunt Liz,” Regan said, moving past him to head up the stairs. As she did so, Cole caught a whiff of her perfume. It was the same brand she’d worn when he’d first met her—a special blend that reminded him of honeysuckle. The fragrance immediately hurled him back to another time—to an evening spent making love with Regan and of waking the next morning to the scent of honeysuckle on his sheets. Cole sucked in a breath, fought the swift rush of desire that hit him and the sudden tightness in his chest. Hormones again, he told himself. Nothing more. He certainly wasn’t dumb enough to let himself fall under the woman’s spell a second time. She’d cured him of any romantic notions he’d had about love the first time he’d tangled with her. Baby or no baby, it wasn’t a lesson that he intended to forget.

Cole hesitated in front of the doors of the mansion. He couldn’t help thinking back to the very first time the butler had opened those doors for him. He’d felt like a mongrel with muddy feet. Shaking off the memory, he stepped inside the grand foyer entrance. The place was every bit as cold and imposing as he remembered, Cole thought. He swept his gaze over the high ceilings, the marble floors and silk wall coverings that echoed refinement and wealth handed down through generations. And despite the fact that he was now a millionaire a hundred times over, standing beneath the crystal chandelier amidst the elegance, he still felt like a mongrel who didn’t belong here.

“Yes, Aunt Liz, I’m okay. I’m sorry you were worried. I know he has. He’s here now,” Regan’s voice carried from the opposite end of the foyer, where she stood with her back to him as she spoke into the telephone receiver. “No, I haven’t decided yet. Yes, I’ll call you later and let you know. I love you, too.”

When she hung up the phone and turned around, Cole got a good look at Regan for the first time since he’d left her. Yesterday, all the old resentments that had begun to eat at him disappeared the minute he saw her face. In the moonlight and with the trees shading her face, he hadn’t been able to see her clearly. From her reaction to his presence, he had assumed she was okay. But now…now he could see that she was far from okay. She didn’t have a lick of color in her cheeks. Faint shadows marred the delicate skin beneath her eyes. And despite her regal posture, she looked as though a strong wind would knock her right off her feet. A surge of warmth and tenderness, two emotions he hadn’t associated with Regan for years, pumped through his system. The fact that he felt those emotions for her now grated. “What’s wrong?”

She arched her brow. “You mean aside from the mess we find ourselves in?”

He narrowed his eyes, told himself he wasn’t hurt that she considered their situation to be a mess. “I mean you look like hell.”

“Gee, thanks. That’s just what every pregnant woman wants to hear.”

Cole swore, dragged in a breath. “What I meant was you don’t look well. You look…exhausted.”

“I’m fine.”

“Did you eat anything? I heard that pregnant women need to eat lots of small meals, and that—”

“I’m fine, Cole,” she insisted, her voice tight, strained. “I’m just tired. And to be honest, I’m not up to playing word games tonight. You already know that I saw Aunt Liz and that she…she confirmed your story.”

“My story?” Cole repeated, irritated that she seemed to find it so difficult to say that he was the father of the child she carried. He followed her into the living room.

“That you were the sperm donor for my baby.”

“Our baby,” he corrected and had the satisfaction of seeing those green eyes flash with annoyance. But his satisfaction was short-lived and made him feel small because it was obvious she was dead on her feet. “Sit down—before you fall down.”

She hesitated for all of two seconds, then sank to the couch. She looked so fragile and lost sitting there. Something inside Cole unfurled, making him want to draw her into his arms and promise her everything would be all right. Instead, he claimed the chair across from her. Several heartbeats passed in an awkward silence. Then, sighing, Cole leaned forward and said, “I owe you an apology. I honestly thought Liz had told you that she’d approached me about being a sperm donor for you.”

“I know. She told me what happened. She also told me that you had apparently changed your mind.” Regan stared down at her hands as though she hoped to find the answers she sought there. “I’m sorry, too. If I’d had any idea…”

Regan didn’t finish. But then, she didn’t need to, because he knew he’d been right. He was the last man she’d have chosen to have a child with.

“I know Aunt Liz meant well. But she’s put us both in an impossible situation.”

“Awkward maybe, but not impossible,” Cole offered, wanting to ease some of the tension. “There are options available to us. Several in fact.” But there was only one option he could live with. And as much as Regan wouldn’t like it, he had no intention of settling for anything less than the course he’d decided upon already.

Her head snapped up. “I’m going to have this baby.”

“Do you honestly believe I would suggest you not have it?” He bit back the sharp jab that she might think such a thing of him. “Regardless of how this pregnancy came about, I want this baby.”

“The only question is how we’re going to deal with custody.”

Her eyes slapped to his, narrowed. “This is my baby, Cole. Mine. I’d already planned on being a single mother. I have no intention of shuttling my child back and forth between me and its father. That’s not what I want for my baby.”

“Our baby,” he corrected her again. “And I agree. I don’t want our child shuttled back and forth between us either.”

Hesitating, she curled her fingers into her skirt. “Does that mean you…that you would be willing to relinquish your rights and let me raise the baby?”

Her words hit him like blows. Gritting his teeth, Cole worked to keep his emotions in check. After all, it wasn’t the first time he hadn’t been found good enough, he reminded himself. In her eyes for a child to have no father would probably be preferable than to have him as one. But like it or not, it was his baby she was carrying, and he had no intention of walking away from his responsibilities. He forced his lips into a smile. “Sorry to disappoint you, princess, but that’s not what I had in mind.”