Baby Bonanza / For Blackmail...or Pleasure

And though he wasn’t prepared to take Jenna’s word for his paternity, he had to admit that it wasn’t likely she’d have come here to the ship, signing up for a cruise if it wasn’t true. Not that he thought she’d have any qualms about lying—she’d lied to him when she first met him after all—but this lie was too easily found out.

So he was willing to accept the possibility. Which left him exactly where? That was the question that had been circling in his mind all afternoon, and he was no closer to an answer now than he had been earlier.

He looked her up and down and could admit at least to himself that she looked damn good to him. Her dark blond hair was a little windblown, stray tendrils pulling away from her braid to lay against her face. Her eyes were wide and gleaming with suspicion, and, strangely enough, that didn’t do a damn thing to mitigate the attraction he felt as he drew in a breath that carried her scent deep into his lungs.

“I’ll stay here, but I’m not sleeping with you,” she announced suddenly.

Nick shook his head and smiled. “Don’t flatter yourself. I said you’re staying in my suite, not my bed. As it happens, there are three bedrooms here besides my own. Your things have been unpacked in one of them.”

She frowned a little and the flush of color in her cheeks faded a bit. “Oh.”

“Disappointed?” Nick asked, feeling a quick jolt of something hot and reckless punch through him.

“Please,” she countered quickly. “You’re not exactly irresistible, Nick.”

He frowned at that, but since he didn’t actually believe her, he let it go.

“I’m actually grateful to be out of that hole at the bottom of the ship,” she added, glancing around at the suite before shifting her gaze back to his. “And if staying here is the price I have to pay for your attention, then I’ll pay.”

One dark eyebrow lifted. “How very brave of you to put up with such appalling conditions as these.”

“Look,” Jenna told him, “if you don’t mind, it’s been a long day. So how about you just tell me which room is mine so I can take a shower. Then we’ll talk.”

“Fine. This way.” He turned, pointed and said, “Down that hall. First door on the left.”

“Thanks.”

“My bedroom’s at the end of the hall on the right.”

She stopped, looked back at him over her shoulder and said, “I’ll make a note.”

“You do that,” he whispered as she left the room, shoulders squared, chin lifted, steps long and slow, as if she were being marched to her death.

His gaze dropped to the curve of her behind and something inside him stirred into life. Something he hadn’t felt since the last time he’d seen Jenna. Something he’d thought he was long past.

He still wanted her.

Spinning around, Nick stalked across the room to the wide bank of windows that displayed an awe-inspiring view of the sea. His gaze locked on the horizon as he fought to control the raging tide of lust rising inside him.

Jenna Baker.

She’d turned him inside out more than a year ago. Ever since, he’d been haunted by memories of their time together until he wasn’t sure if what he was remembering was real or just fevered imaginings offered by a mind that couldn’t seem to let go of the woman who’d lied to him. And Nick wasn’t a man to forget something like that. Now she was back again. Here, trapped on his ship in the middle of the ocean with nowhere to go to escape him.

Yes, they had plenty to talk about—and if her children were indeed his sons, then there were a lot of decisions to be made. But, he told himself as he shoved both hands into his slacks pockets and smiled faintly at the sunlight glinting on the vast expanse of the sea, there would be enough time for him to have her again.

To feel her under him. To lay claim to her body once more. To drive her past the edge of reason. Then, when he was satisfied that he’d gotten her out from under his skin, he’d kick her loose and she’d be out of his life once and for all. He wouldn’t even allow her to be a memory this time.

In Neptune’s Garden, the elegant restaurant on the Splendor Deck, Jenna watched as Nick worked the room.

As the owner of the ship, he wasn’t exactly expected to mingle with the passengers, but Nick was an executive like no other. He not only mingled, he seemed to enjoy himself. And with her arm tucked through his, Jenna felt like a queen moving through an adoring crowd.

Again and again, as they walked to their table, Nick stopped to chat with people sitting at the white linen–covered tables. Making sure they were enjoying the ship, asking if there was anything they needed and didn’t have, if there was anything that the crew could do to make their stay more pleasurable.

Of course the single women on board were more than anxious to meet the gorgeous, wealthy, eligible Nick Falco. And the fact that Jenna was on his arm didn’t dissuade them from flirting desperately.

“It’s a beautiful ship, Mr. Falco,” one woman said with a sigh as she shook his hand. She tossed her thick black hair back over her shoulder and licked her lips.

“Thank you,” he said, smiling at her and the two other women seated with her. “I’m happy you’re enjoying yourselves. If there’s anything you need, please be sure to speak to a steward.”

“Oh,” the brunette cooed, “we will. I promise.”

Jenna just managed to keep from rolling her eyes. All three women were looking at Nick as if he were the first steak they’d stumbled on after leaving a spa dinner of spinach leaves and lemon slices. And he was eating it up, of course.

When he turned to go, he led her on through the crowd and Jenna swore she could feel the death stare from those women boring into her back.

“Well, that was tacky,” she murmured.

“Tacky?”

“The way she practically drooled on you.”

“Ah,” Nick said, flashing a quick grin at her as he opened his right hand—the hand the brunette had shaken and clung to. A cabin key card rested in the center of his palm and the number P230 was scrawled across the top in ink. “So I’m guessing this makes it even tackier.”

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Jenna snapped, wanting to spin around and shoot a few daggers at the brunette with no class. “I was with you. For all she knew I was your girlfriend.”

His pale blue eyes sparkled and his grin widened enough that the dimple in his left cheek was a deep cleft. “Jealous?”

She tried to pull her hand free of the crook of his arm, but he held her tight. Frowning, she said, “No. Not jealous. Just irritated.”

“By her? Or by me?”

“A little of both.” She tipped her head back to look up at him. “Why didn’t you give the key back to her?”

He looked genuinely surprised at the suggestion. “Why would I embarrass her in front of her friends?”

Jenna snorted indelicately. “I’m guessing it’s next to impossible to embarrass a woman like that.”

“This really bothers you.”

It always had, she thought. When she first went to work for Falcon Cruise Lines, she’d heard all the stories. About how on every cruise there were women lining up to take their place in Nick’s bed. He was a player, no doubt. But for some reason, Jenna had allowed herself to be swept up in the magic of the moment. She’d somehow convinced herself that what they’d had together was different from what he found with countless other women.

Apparently, she’d been wrong about a few things.

“One question,” she said, keeping her voice low enough that no one they passed could possibly overhear.

“Okay.”

“Are you planning on using that key?”

He only looked at her for a long moment or two, then sighing, he stopped a waiter, handed over the key card and whispered something Jenna didn’t quite catch. Then he turned to her. “That answer your question?”

“Depends,” she said. “What did you tell him?”

“To return the card to the brunette with my thanks and my regrets.”

A small puddle of warmth settled in Jenna’s chest and even though she knew it was foolish, she couldn’t quite seem to quash it. “Thank you.”

He dipped his head in a faint mockery of a bow. “I find there’s only one woman I’m interested in talking to at the moment.”

“Nick…”

“Here we are,” he said, interrupting whatever she would have said as he seated her in the navy blue leather booth that was kept reserved for him. “Jenna, let’s have some dinner and get started on that talk you wanted.”

Jenna slid behind the linen-draped table and watched him as he moved around to take a seat beside her. “All right, Nick. First let me ask you something, though.”

“What?”

“All the people you talked to as we came through the restaurant…all the women you flirted with…” Jenna shook her head as she looked at him. “You haven’t changed a bit, have you?”

His features tightened as he looked at her, and in the flickering light of the single candle in the middle of their table, his eyes looked just a little dangerous. “Oh, I’ve changed some,” he told her softly, and the tone of his voice rippled across her skin like someone had spilled a glass of ice water on her. “These days I’m a little more careful who I spend time with. I don’t take a woman’s word for it anymore when she tells me who she is. Now I check her out. Don’t want to run across another liar, after all.”

Jenna flushed. She felt the heat of it stain her skin and she was grateful for the dim lighting in the restaurant. Folding her hands together in her lap, she looked at the snowy expanse of the table linen and said, “Okay, I’m going to say this again. I didn’t set out to lie to you back then, Nick.”

“So it just happened?”

“Well,” she said, lifting her gaze reluctantly to his, “yes.”

“Right.” He nodded, gave her a smirk that came nowhere near being a real smile and added, “Couldn’t figure out a way to tell me that you actually worked for me, so you just let it slide. Let me think you were a passenger.”

Yes, she had. She’d been swept away by the moonlight and the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen in her life. “I never said I was. You assumed I was a passenger.”

“And you said nothing to clear that up.”

True. All true. If she’d simply told the truth, then their week together never would have happened. She never would have known what it was like to be in his arms. Never would have imagined a future of some kind between them. Never would have gotten pregnant. Never would have given birth to the two little boys she couldn’t imagine living without.

Because of that, it was hard to feel guilty about what she’d done.

“Nick, let’s not rehash the past, all right? I said I was sorry at the time. I can’t change anything. And you know, you didn’t exactly act like Prince Charming at the time, either.”

“You’re blaming me?”

“You wouldn’t even talk to me,” she reminded him. “You found out the truth and shut me out and down so fast I was half surprised you didn’t have me thrown overboard to swim home.”

He shifted uncomfortably, worked his jaw as if words were clamoring to get out and he was fighting the impulse to shout them. “What did you expect me to do?”

“All I wanted was to explain myself.”

“There was nothing you could have said.”

“Well,” she said softly, “we’ll never know for sure, will we?” Then she sighed and said, “We’re not solving anything here, so let’s just let the past go, okay? What happened, happened. Now we need to talk about what is.”

“Right.” He signaled to a waiter, then looked at her again. “So let’s talk. Tell me about your sons.”

“Your sons,” she corrected, lifting her chin a little as if readying to fight.

“That’s yet to be proved to me.”

“Why would I lie?”

“Hmm. Interesting question,” he said. “I could say you’ve lied before, but then we’ve already agreed not to talk about the past.”

Jenna wasn’t sure if she wanted to sigh in frustration or kick him hard under the table. This was so much more difficult than she’d thought it would be. Somehow, Jenna had convinced herself that Nick would believe her. That he would look at the pictures of the babies and somehow know instinctively that these were his sons. She should have known better.

All around them the clink of fine crystal and the muted conversations of the other diners provided a background swell of sound that was more white noise than anything else. Through the windows lining one side of the restaurant, the night was black and the sea endless. The shimmer of colored lights hanging from the edges of the deck looked almost like a rainbow that only shone at night.

And beside her, the man who’d haunted her dreams and forged a new life for her sat waiting, watchful.

As she started to speak, a waiter approached with a bottle of champagne nestled inside a gleaming silver bucket. Jenna closed her mouth and bit her lip as the waiter poured a sip of the frothy wine into a flute and presented it to Nick for tasting. Approved, the wine was then poured first for her, then for Nick. Once the waiter had disappeared into the throng again, Jenna reached for her champagne and took a sip, hoping to ease the sudden dryness in her throat.

“So?” Nick prodded, his voice a low rumble of sound that seemed to slide inside her. “Tell me about the twins.”

“What do you want to know?”

He shot her a look. “Everything.”

Nodding, Jenna took a breath. Normally, she was more than happy to talk about her sons. She’d even been known to bore complete strangers in the grocery store with tales of their exploits. But tonight was different. Important. This was the father of her children. She had to make him understand that. Believe it. So choosing her words carefully, she started simply and said, “Their names are Jacob and Cooper.”

He frowned a little and took a sip of his own champagne. “Family names?”

“My grandfathers,” she said, just a touch defensively as if she was prepared to go toe to toe with him to guard her right to name her sons whatever she wanted.

“That was nice of you,” he said after a second or two and took the wind out of her sails. “Go on.”

While around them people laughed and talked and relaxed together, a tight knot of tension coiled about their table. Jenna’s voice was soft, Nick leaned in closer to hear her and his nearness made her breath hitch in her chest.

“Jacob’s sunny and happy all the time. He smiles from the minute he wakes up until the moment I put him down for the night.” She smiled, too, just thinking of her babies. “Cooper’s different. He’s more…thoughtful, I guess. His smiles are rarer and all the more precious because of it. He’s always watching. Studying. I’d love to know what he’s thinking most of the time because even at four months, he seems almost a philosopher.”

His gaze was locked on her and Jenna could see both of her sons in Nick’s face. They looked so much like him, she couldn’t understand how he could doubt even for a moment that they were his.

“Where are they now?”

“My sister Maxie’s watching them.” And was probably harried and exhausted. “The boys are crazy about her and she loves them both to death. They’re fine.”

“Then why did you get tense all of a sudden?”

She blew out a breath, slumped back against the booth and admitted, “It’s the first time I’ve been away from them. It feels…wrong, somehow. And I miss them. A lot.”

His eyes narrowed on her and he picked up his glass for a sip of wine. Watching her over the rim of the glass, he swallowed, then set the flute back onto the table. “Can’t be easy, being a single mother.”

“No, it’s not,” she admitted, thinking now about just how tired she was every night by the time she had the boys in bed. It had been so long since she’d been awake past eight o’clock at night that it was odd to her now, sitting here in a restaurant at nine. This was what it had been like before, though. When she’d only had herself to worry about. When she hadn’t had two little boys depending on her.

God, how had she ever been able to stand the quiet? The emptiness in her little house? She couldn’t even imagine being without her sons now.

“But,” she added when he didn’t say anything else, “along with all the work, a single mom gets all the perks to herself, too. I don’t have to share the little moments. I’m the one to see them smile for the first time. To see them waking up to the world around them.”

“So since you’re not looking to share the good moments, that means you’re not interested in having me involved in the twins’ lives,” he said thoughtfully. “All you really want is child support?”

She stiffened a little. Jenna hadn’t even considered that Nick might want to be drawn into their sons’ lives. He wasn’t the hearth-and-home kind of guy. He was the party man. The guy you dated, but didn’t bring home to mom.

“You and I both know you don’t have any interest in being a father, Nick.”

“Is that right? And how would you know that?”

“Well—”

He inclined his head at her speechlessness. “Exactly. You don’t know me any more than I know you.”

“You’re wrong. I know that you’re not the kind of man to tie himself down in one place. That week we were together you told me yourself you had no plans to ever get married and settle down.”

“Who said anything about getting married?”

Jenna sucked in a breath and told herself to slow down. She was walking through a minefield here. “I didn’t mean—”

“Forget it,” he said.

Another waiter appeared, this time delivering a dinner that Nick had clearly ordered earlier. Surprised, Jenna looked down at the serving of breast of chicken and fettucine in mushroom sauce before lifting her gaze to his in question.

“I remembered you liked it,” he said with a shrug.

What was she supposed to do with that? She wondered. He pretended to not care anything about her, yet he remembered more than a year later what her favorite foods were? Why? Why would he recall something so small?

Once the waiter was gone, Nick started talking again. “So answer me this. When you found out you were pregnant, why’d you go through with it?”

“Excuse me?”

He shrugged. “You were alone. A lot of women in that position wouldn’t have done what you did. Giving birth, deciding to raise the babies on her own.”

“They were mine,” she said, as if that explained everything, and in her mind it did. Never for a moment had she considered ending her pregnancy. She’d tried to reach Nick of course, but when she couldn’t, she’d hunkered down and started building a life for her and her children.

“No regrets?”

“Only the one about coming on this ship,” she muttered.

He smiled faintly, laid his napkin across his lap and, picking up his knife and fork, sliced into his filet mignon. “I heard that.”

“I meant you to.” As Jenna used her fork to slide the fettucine noodles around her plate, she said, “Nick, my sons are the most important things in the world to me. I’ll do whatever I have to to make sure they’re safe.”

“Good for you.”

She took a bite of her dinner and, though she could tell it was cooked to perfection, the delicate sauce and chicken tasted like sawdust in her mouth.

“I’ll want a DNA test.”

“Of course,” she said. “I’ve already had the boys’ blood tests done at a local lab. You can send your sample in to them and they’ll do the comparison testing.”

“I’ll take care of it tomorrow.”

“What?” She shook her head, looked at him and said, “Don’t you have to wait until we’re back in San Pedro?”

“No, I’m not going to wait. I want this question settled as quickly as possible.” He continued to eat, as though what they were discussing wasn’t affecting him in the slightest. “We dock at Cabo in the morning. You and I will go ashore, find a lab and have them fax the findings to the lab in San Pedro.”

“We will?” She hadn’t planned on spending a lot of time with Nick, after all. She’d only come on board to tell him about the boys and frankly, she’d thought he wouldn’t want anything more to do with her after that. Instead, he’d moved her into his suite and now was proposing that they spend even more time together.

“Until this is taken care of to my satisfaction,” Nick told her softly, “I’m not letting you out of my sight. The two of us are going to be joined at the hip. So you might as well start getting used to it.”

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