A hollow ache filled her belly. “When is Beth due back?”
Patrick cocked his head at the sound of a car in the driveway. “That’s probably her.”
He turned on his heel and stalked out of the kitchen. Seconds later she heard his feet stomping upstairs.
As much as Nicole dreaded the conversation to come, she had to get it over with. She met Beth in the garage. “Hi. Need help with the groceries?”
“It’s just one bag.”
Uneasiness swirled in Nicole’s belly. “Can we talk?”
“I have to get ready for a lunch appointment.”
Nicole had always put her family first, but it was time she put herself and her baby at the top of the list. “Beth, I need five minutes.”
“Make it quick,” Beth grumbled grudgingly. Nicole followed her inside. Beth went straight for the coffeepot. “What is it?”
“The baby isn’t biologically yours or Patrick’s. I will understand if you don’t want to stick with our agreement. Just please, be honest with me. Tell me what you want.”
“I don’t want to have this conversation.”
“It’s overdue. Beth, this is not a good time for you and Patrick to add to the strain your marriage is already under with a baby. You need to focus on the two of you.”
“My marriage is none of your business.”
The caustic words hurt. Nicole tried a different tactic. “I don’t think Patrick can love this baby.”
“Patrick can’t love anyone but Patrick.” Beth’s bitterness rang loud and clear.
Living with two parents who said ugly things about each other would not be a healthy environment for a child. Nicole wet her lips and took a deep breath. She swallowed the lump in her throat and rubbed her agitated stomach. Say it. “I want to keep my baby.”
Beth drew herself up, her face indignant and flushed with angry color. She slammed her mug on the counter, sloshing the dark brew over the rim. “You’d betray me after all I’ve done for you? You never intended to go through with the adoption, did you?”
Regret settled heavily on Nicole’s shoulders. “Of course I did, and I still would if I thought it was the right thing to do. But it’s not. Once Ryan came on the scene you and Patrick lost interest. And who could blame you? It’s not your husband’s child. Beth, you avoid me. You don’t return my phone calls or even my e-mails.”
“I didn’t call you because I couldn’t stand to see you get everything I wanted once again.”
Shock rocked Nicole to the soles of her shoes. “What are you talking about?”
“Everything always came easy for you, Nicole. Boyfriends. Good grades. College. Life. You even got pregnant on the first try. I had to work for everything, and I still got left on the sidelines.”
She’d had no idea Beth harbored such resentment. “You chose to be on the sidelines, Beth. You like playing it safe.”
As soon as Nicole said the words, she knew they were true. Why hadn’t she noticed before that Beth liked to watch life rather than live it?
“Well, this time I win. I’m pregnant, too. And I don’t need your damned baby to have a family. I’m having three of my own. Mine and Patrick’s. Three! Top that.”
Nicole staggered back not only at the news but also at Beth’s over-the-top competitive and emotional response. “You’re pregnant? How?”
“I’ve been seeing a specialist in New York for months. That’s why I’ve missed work. He confirmed last week that I’m carrying triplets. We thought I might be pregnant before the Labor Day picnic, but we weren’t sure.”
“Congratulations,” Nicole uttered automatically. Part of her was thrilled that her sister’s dream of having a family was coming true. But another part resented Beth for putting her through this emotional wringer while she continued to try to conceive. It felt like a betrayal.
Anger licked through her. “What was I? Your insurance policy? You’d keep my baby only if you didn’t conceive your own? What if the fertility clinic hadn’t made a mistake? What if this had been Patrick’s child?”
“Then you’d have what you’ve wanted all along—a piece of my husband.”
Nicole recoiled. “I have never made one inappropriate move toward Patrick.”
“But you wanted to. You loved him first. But don’t forget, you’ve signed over your rights to the baby you’re carrying. You can’t keep it.”
“You’re pregnant with triplets! Why would you want my baby, too?”
“Because we need the money Ryan offered. The fertility treatments were expensive. And there will be even more money from the malpractice suit we’re filing against the fertility clinic for their screwup.”
Nicole stumbled backward. For a fraction of a second she hated both Beth and Patrick. She had offered them a gift that would have torn out her heart, and they were using her with no regard for her feelings whatsoever.
She reined in her anger. “Don’t plan on using my baby or me as your cash cow. If I have to liquidate everything I own and take out loans to pay the legal fees, I will make absolutely certain you don’t see a dime from my baby. And Ryan will side with me.”
“The law is on my side. That contract is as ironclad as it can possibly be.” A disgusted sound rumbled from Beth’s throat. “Look at yourself, Nicole. You’ve become our mother.”
She flinched. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You’ve fallen for your lover and you think just because you’re knocked up with his brat he’ll marry you. Well, your Ryan is going to turn out just like Lauren’s father. He’s going to use you and toss you aside.”
“You don’t know that’s what happened to our mother.”
“Yes, I do. My bedroom was next to Mom and Dad’s. I heard their arguments. Everybody knows they didn’t love each other, that Dad married her for her money to keep Hightower Aviation afloat. What you don’t know is that she fell in love with Lauren’s father. But she got dumped and so will you. Once Ryan gets his hands on this kid you will be nothing to him. He’ll cut you off, and you’ll be lucky if you ever get to see your baby again.”
Horrified, Nicole braced herself on the counter. “You’re wrong.”
Beth’s laugh held no humor. “We’ll see, won’t we?”
Nicole broke out in a cold sweat. She had to talk to Ryan. He was the only one who could help her now. With the echoes of Beth’s prediction ringing in her ears, she fled to her car and raced toward Ryan’s condo.
Her stomach twisted with anxiety but a new realization seeped into her conscience. If she didn’t love Patrick, then that left the door open for loving someone else—someone who made her feel more alive than she ever had before.
Someone who obviously wanted a family as badly as she did.
Someone who might help her keep her baby.
Ryan.
Eleven
“I need your help,” Nicole blurted the second Ryan opened the door to his condo Saturday afternoon.
He took in her subtle curves outlined by a lavender cashmere cowl-neck sweater and navy slacks and hunger licked through him. He hadn’t been able to get Friday night out of his head. The way she looked. The way she tasted. The way she’d shuddered in his arms and clenched him in her slick body.The way she’d trusted him, and the guilt he’d felt after dropping her off.
The tension straining her pale face told him they wouldn’t be revisiting his bed in the next few minutes for more of that stellar sex. Just as well. His conscience was giving him hell.
Even though he’d known it would be a mistake, he’d come close to asking her to stay all night. Dangerous territory. How many times had he seen a friend start thinking with his dick and lose his common sense? The only thing worse was getting emotionally involved. That left a man weak and at the whims of the woman pulling his strings.
It wasn’t going to happen to him. He’d keep his eye on the goal.
But damn, the sex had been great, their chemistry unbelievable. He wanted more. But sex and the baby they shared were her only appeal. And once he had his kid, he wouldn’t need Nicole. For now he needed to pull his head together and get back in the game.
He stepped away from the door. “Come in.”
Nicole headed straight for his den, her sexy high-heeled boots rapping out a rhythm on his slate floors. She stopped abruptly short of the windows and turned. Her fear of heights shouldn’t be endearing, but it was. Probably because she fought so hard to hide it. But the telling way she backed away from his window each time she got too near the glass gave her away.
Her bottom lip was swollen as if she’d been biting it. “I’m sorry I didn’t call, but I didn’t have your home or cell number.”
He dug his wallet out of his pants as he followed her into the room, withdrew a business card, located a pen and wrote his personal numbers on the back. He offered the information to her. “Now you have all my numbers.”
She took the card and the touch of her fingertips against his zapped him with an electric charge. Static, no doubt. Or maybe just lust.
She shoved the info into her pocket without looking at it. “Beth is pregnant with triplets.”
That should have been good news, but even though she hid it well, he could feel Nicole’s anxiety rolling off her in waves. Odd. He’d never been that sensitive to another woman’s emotions. “I thought she couldn’t get pregnant.”
“She’s been seeing a new fertility specialist behind my back.”
“She and Patrick should be willing to cancel the surrogacy contract now.” That put him head-to-head with Nicole, who’d already relinquished her parental rights. His odds of winning looked good. But the pain and panic in her eyes tugged at him. His winning meant her losing.
“You would think so, but she intends to hold me to it.”
“Why would she if she’s pregnant?”
“She wants the money you offered to defray the cost of her medical expenses. And she plans to sue the clinic for malpractice and make even more money.”
The strength of his anger on Nicole’s behalf surprised him. He rocked back on his heels. The greedy bastards. Nicole was willing to cut out her heart for them, and they were going to squeeze out every last cent at her expense.
And how is what you’re doing any better? You’re pitting her against her sister.
He ignored the pesky protest of his conscience. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Ryan…” Nicole’s gaze dropped to the floor and her hands fisted. She took a deep breath as if gathering her courage, and then lifted her eyes again. “I’m going to try and revoke my surrogacy contract. My attorney says it’s almost impossible, but as you said, Beth and Patrick are not good candidates for parenting our baby. Their marriage is in trouble. Add in her high-risk multiple pregnancy, and I think I stand at least a slim chance of succeeding. And then…we’ll share custody. You and me.”