The Million-Dollar Catch: The Substitute Millionaire

Todd stood, then raised both his hands in the air. “I’ll leave,” he said to Ryan. “Later you can try to explain what exactly it was that you missed.”

With that he left. Ryan pointed at the empty chairs around the table. “Have a seat.”

She hesitated, then sat down. He could feel the anger radiating from her.

“I called,” he said, knowing it was pointless, but still compelled to make the effort.

“I got the messages.”

“And the basket?”

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“You never said thank you.”

Her eyes widened in outrage. “Excuse me? You’re the one who lied. You made horrible assumptions about me and you lied about who you were and what you wanted and you’re trying to take me to task because I didn’t send a thank-you note?”

“I …”

She stood, which forced him to his feet.

“You lied,” she repeated. “I don’t do liars. I could have handled pretty much anything else, but no. That would have been too easy.”

“You were there because of the money,” he said, in a feeble attempt to defend himself. Apologizing hadn’t worked—maybe she would respond to an offense better than defense.

“Oh, please. I was there because I recently discovered I had a grandmother and I’m still thinking I want to have a relationship with her. It was never about the money and you know it.” She folded her arms over her chest. “That’s what gets me the most, Ryan. You know all of that. We had a great connection. That night was …” She paused and swallowed. “Forget it.”

“Julie, don’t do this. Don’t shut me out. You’re right. It was a great night. Magic. That doesn’t happen very often in my life. What about yours? Are you really going to walk away from that because of a mistake?”

She glared at him. “A mistake is losing your keys. You lied about who you were with the express purpose of hurting me. Magic or not, those aren’t qualities I look for in a man.”

Right. “So why are you here?”

She sucked in a breath, then stared him in the eye. “I’m pregnant. We had sex and we didn’t use anything. Didn’t even discuss it, which is pretty dumb, but there we are. My excuse is I haven’t been in a relationship for over a year and wasn’t on anything. I won’t presume to know what your excuse is.”

He heard the words, but they didn’t mean anything. His body froze and his brain stopped working.

Pregnant … as in pregnant?

“How?” he asked before he could stop himself. He shook his head. “Never mind. I know the answer to that.”

“How comforting.”

Pregnant. He couldn’t comprehend what that meant. Sure, having kids had always been something he’d known would happen eventually, but now? Like this? With a woman who hated him?

The timing sucked the big one, but a baby? He found himself kind of liking the idea.

Julie sat down. She would have preferred to stay standing, but these days she was always at risk of being a little woozy. Some women could go their entire pregnancy without feeling symptoms. She’d managed to get her first one less than a month after conception. Was that just her luck?

Only she couldn’t be upset. Even as Ryan stood there looking shocked and ready to bolt, she couldn’t be unhappy. Not about having a child.

“I wasn’t sure if I should even tell you,” she said, probably shocking him with her honesty, but she had no choice. She was a big fan of the truth. “I’ve debated for the past two days. But you are the father and you have the right to know.” She drew in a breath. “Just so we’re all clear, I’m keeping the baby.”

“I’m glad.”

Really? Color her surprised. But then what did she really know about Ryan?

Except that he was a liar, of course.

“You can sign away your rights and I’ll take full responsibility,” she said, wondering if he would. It was the easy out, the most practical. Most men would jump at the chance. A week ago, she would have assumed she would have jumped at the chance.

But something had happened. The second Dr. Greenberg had said she was pregnant, Julie’s heart had nearly burst with joy. She’d never much thought about having children. They had been far in her future. Yet knowing there was a life growing inside of her had changed everything. In that moment, she’d suddenly felt her life had meaning and purpose, which theoretically it had had before, but not in such a big way.

A baby. No, a miracle.

He braced his arms on the table and leaned toward her. “No,” he said clearly. “I will be a father to my child.”

Great. Because morning sickness wasn’t enough of a hassle. “You don’t have to do this to look good. No one needs to know.”

His dark gaze locked with hers. “I will be a father to my child,” he said again, his voice low and forceful. “I want to.”

He looked good. Too good. She hated that she still found him tempting. She wanted to lean toward him as well, so their mouths were close. She wanted to breathe in the scent of him and touch him and be touched. She wanted him to make the bad parts of their last time together go away so they could have the good parts again and again.

“Obviously we’ll have to work something out,” she said calmly so he wouldn’t guess what she’d been thinking. “As I’m less than a month along, we have time to deal with all this.”

She rose and pulled a business card out of her jacket pocket. She’d put it there earlier and had written her home number on the back. Of course she’d hoped he would agree to walk away from the child, but based on how her luck was going lately, it hadn’t seemed likely.

She held out the card.

“That’s it?” he asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You have nothing else to say? Nothing else you want to talk about?”

She set her card on the table and shrugged. “There isn’t anything else. I’m pregnant. That’s for me to deal with. When there’s a child, you can get involved. Between now and then, I suppose we’ll talk.”

“You mean I’ll call and you’ll ignore my messages.”

She thought about the times he’d phoned her office. “I won’t ignore them this time.”

“I’m not sure I believe that.”

She picked up her purse. “I’m not the one who lies.”

“Are you ever going to let that go?”

“No.”