The Millionaire's Pregnant Bride

From now on, Diana vowed, she would make rules of her own, rule number one being that she was in sole control of Diana Foster. From this day forward she would take complete responsibility for her own life.

Will was the last to arrive for the weekly dinner meeting in one of the smaller private rooms at the Texas Cattleman’s Club, an exclusive establishment formed originally so that a few wealthy cattle barons and some of the early oilmen could escape from their wives for a night out. As years passed it had served as a convenient cover for a number of covert operations. Of the small group of close friends, all were ex-military and had been involved in any number of operations that never hit the news. Thank God things had been quiet on that front lately. With Jack’s unexpected death, Will had had enough on his mind without having to fly off at a moment’s notice to rescue some poor unfortunate who’d blundered into trouble.

Between missions, the club served as a fund-raising organization for various charities that had arisen as the small town of Royal doubled and tripled its size. Will was, unfortunately, a member of the club’s committee whose duty it was to sift through the dozens of applications and choose a worthy recipient for the funds raised by the annual charity ball. He’d just as soon divide the take equally among the charities, but tradition precluded such a simple solution.

After nodding to a few of the older members dozing over their Wall Street Journals in the cigar, brandy and wax-scented great room, Will opened the massive oak door and closed it quietly behind him. “Evening, gentleman,” he greeted.

“Man, you look like hell.” It was Jason, foreign advisor and CIA agent, the youngest of the group, who passed judgment on him.

Sebastian, Jack’s son and newly appointed CEO of Wescott Oil, looked as though he hadn’t slept in weeks. It was obvious his father’s death and the new responsibilities had taken their toll. Gamely he grinned. “Things are that bad in your neck of the woods, huh?”

“Not bad. Shall we say…disorganized? If your father had suspected an OPEC spy of trying to infiltrate the company to gather information, he might have devised a similar plan for throwing him off track. Anyone ordered yet? What are we having?”

Their tastes were as varied as the men themselves. Keith Owens, owner of a computer software company, was still studying the bill of fare. Robert Cole, private detective with an old-money background, usually ordered seafood.

Will chose steak, medium rare, with a baked potato, no sour cream and a salad, which he didn’t particularly want but which he ordered anyway because at his age a smart man started thinking about health and his own mortality.

Pity poor Jack hadn’t started earlier.

Will hadn’t had time to stop by the club in more than a week. Since every man present was the son, if not the grandson, of a former member, this group was the closest thing to family he was ever apt to have. He asked after each man individually, then took a sip of the single drink he allowed himself each evening and said, “Want to tell me what all the snickers were about when I walked in?”

“What snickers? Oh, you must mean the bet. Seb has the dubious honor of heading up this year’s gala, and he suggested that since we’re all aging bachelors, we place a bet on which one will still be standing alone by the end of the year. Whoever wins can have the consolation prize of choosing the beneficiary,” Rob explained.

Will looked from one man to the other. “You’re not serious. Hell, I outgrew that kind of thing in prep school.”

Jason, the youngest member of the group, enjoyed his playboy reputation enough to pick up the challenge. “Not that I’m particularly interested in game playing—” he was widely known for his games with the fairer sex “—but I’ll win this one in a walk-away.”

“Pretty sure of yourself, aren’t you, old boy?”

Jason, his eyes alight with amusement, said, “Yeah, that about covers it.” It was widely known, as well, that Jason was allergic to marriage.

And while Will didn’t particularly want to win the consolation prize, marriage was definitely not in his future. Once had been enough.

“So, that’s settled,” Sebastian said, sounding vastly relieved. “Lets me off the hook.”

It occurred to Will that, under the circumstances, maybe one of the others should have taken over the task of heading up this year’s shindig. It was a daunting task at the best of times, and the man had just lost his father, after all.

“Next item on the agenda,” Keith Owens said around a mouthful of stuffed quail. “What about Dorian? Do we invite him to join the club?”

Sebastian abstained from commenting. Caution urged Will to suggest they not make any hasty decisions, but before he could voice the thought, Jason spoke up. “I vote we sit on it for a few weeks. All due respect, Seb, but we don’t really know this guy.”

After a brief discussion, it was decided to postpone making a decision. Will was relieved. Jason had razor-sharp instincts. Will trusted his instinct on most matters. By the time his dessert of fresh fruit compote was served, he was too tired to enjoy it. Shoving it across the table, he said, “Sorry, fellows, but if I don’t make it to bed in the next half hour, you’ll have to scrape me up off the street. Been a hell of a week.”

After handing the accounting books to the outside auditors, Will turned his full attention to Jack’s messy personal records. Will had already learned two disturbing things. First, that Diana Foster lacked the required qualifications for the position she’d been given. Second, that aside from a nice raise, she’d been the recipient of several large sums of money deposited to a checking account soon after she’d been promoted to the position of Jack’s executive secretary. Putting that together with a remark Jack had once made about Diana’s mother being ill, Will came to a conclusion that had set his blood to boiling.

It wasn’t the kind of thing he could come right out and ask: Did you sleep with Jack so that he would pay your mother’s medical expenses? Hell, he didn’t know her well enough to ask anything that personal. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to know the answer.

Oh, yeah, and there was a third thing, too. He learned that Diana, in a pair of black slacks, bending over an open carton on the floor, had a sweetly rounded bottom that could make a marble statue salivate.

On the way up to the tower office, Will reminded himself that only a few months ago Jack’s old secretary, Miss Lucy, had been put out to pasture, if not with a golden parachute, at least with a gold-plated umbrella. Shortly after that, Miss Foster had been yanked out of the secretarial pool and propelled upstairs to the executive suite.

Knowing the lady had sold herself to the highest bidder, Will felt slightly sick. She might not look the part, but she’d evidently become just one more in a long line of Jack’s women.

What was she, vamp or virgin?

Obviously not the latter.

Which didn’t change the fact that for the past few months, whenever they’d found themselves in the same elevator together he’d had to stare at the indicator buttons and think about something else. The ranch. His favorite horse. The chances of being trapped overnight in an elevator with Diana Foster.

None of which had helped. He had a feeling that in the pitch-dark depths of a West Virginia coal mine, he would be aware of her nearness. Aware that she had hair like a dark silk waterfall, eyes like melted chocolate and skin that looked cool as snow but hinted at banked fires underneath. If she wore perfume, it was not easily discernible. Instead there was an aura about her that reminded him of dark roses, satiny wood and fine wine.

Probably because he’d seen her on more than a few occasions in Jack’s walnut-paneled offices.

It was Saturday morning. Will and Diana had both come in to clear out the last of the personal items in Jack’s office so that the cleaning crew could do their job and Seb could call in the decorators. He managed to keep his mind on business for almost an hour until she turned, tape roller in hand, her dark hair brushing her shoulder. “Shall I label this box personal and put it with those others for Sebastian?”

“What’s in it? Oh, yeah—trophies, certificates, pictures…” Jack with several politicians. Jack with a couple of Hollywood types. Jack with his foot on the neck of a dead lion, and another eight-by-ten glossy of Jack with a dead blue marlin. “Yeah, go ahead. Here, I’ll move it for you.”

“Use your knees, not your back,” she warned in the voice that had come as something of a surprise the first time he’d ever heard it. Quiet, a little bit husky. The type of voice advertisers paid a fortune for, but without the fake seductiveness that was used to sell everything from potency pills to plumbing supplies.

“Huh?” Real intelligent, Bradford.

“To lift the box. Squat, don’t just bend over. Better yet, drag it like I did all the others.”

Will had a feeling Sebastian was going to want to change quite a few things now that he had the power. Father and son were nothing at all alike. They hadn’t gotten along particularly well, although each was brilliant in his own way.

“Yes, ma’am,” Will muttered, amused at Diana’s bossiness. Nevertheless, he bent his knees slightly, leaned over and lifted the box, which was filled with books, trophies and framed photographs. “Where?” he said with a grunt.

“There.” She pointed.

He set it up on top of the stack by the door and managed to resist grabbing his back. Masking his grimace with a smile, he said, “I could do with some lunch, how about you?”

Turning slowly, Diana surveyed the spacious tower office with its paneled walls, the walnut louvered shutters and the heavy, lined linen draperies. Not for Jack Wescott the usual preference for glass, leather and steel.

“How much more do we have to do? I cleaned out the records room and the bathroom.” A length of hair fell forward, and she brushed it back. That morning her heavy, straight brown hair had been confined in one of those twisted arrangements on the back of her head. He could have told her about hair like hers and the laws of gravity.

“Then that about does it,” he said. “Cleaning staff will be in tonight. They can take down the curtains and either toss ’em or send ’em out to be cleaned. They’ve been here for as long as I can remember.”

She touched the soft, sun-faded fabric the way a woman would. “I don’t think Jack ever even noticed them. I guess most men wouldn’t, but they’re sort of nice, aren’t they? In a subtle, understated kind of way.”

“Yeah, I suppose so.” So are you, lady. In a subtle, understated kind of way.

Will made up his mind to give her the draperies once they came back from the cleaners. Unless her living quarters were a hell of a lot larger than his, he had no idea what she would do with all those yards of heavy, lined fabric. Slipcover her house, maybe.

Still, it eased his conscience, because as soon as they wound things up here, he’d already made up his mind to offer her a bonus and encourage her to leave town. The last thing poor Seb needed after dealing with the sudden death of his father and the appearance of an illegitimate half brother was to have to deal with any possible demands from his father’s ex-mistress.

After washing up in the luxurious washroom, they locked the door and crossed the hall to the elevators. Dorian Brady and two clerks from the computer department got on at the floor below. Will nodded to Dorian. He was still withholding judgment when it came to Jack’s by-blow. There was something about him—almost a watchfulness—that raised a few red flags.

But then, that was probably because Seb was Will’s friend, and this guy, whatever his credentials, was an interloper.

As the elevator sped silently down to the lobby, Diana said, “What about the boxes of files I took home with me? Is there any hurry about going through them?”

The doors opened soundlessly, and the small group filed out but lingered nearby. Will, noticing the way Dorian was eyeing his late-father’s secretary, moved to block his view as they crossed the plush lobby. If any man was going to ogle the woman, it wasn’t going to be some shifty-eyed kid in a flashy two-toned suit and a bolo tie.

Not until they were outside did he answer her question. “It’s all personal stuff, isn’t it? Nothing to do with the estate?”

“The boxes? As far as I know.”

“Then let’s let it ride, okay? What do say we stop by the Royal for some chili and coconut pie?” He made the offer only because he’d kept her long past lunch time. All he really wanted to do was go home, watch headline news and sleep for the next twenty-four hours.

Well, maybe not all… “Or if you’d rather, we could drive over to Claire’s.”

And then, damned if she didn’t start crying, right there in broad daylight.

Thank God the Saturday-morning traffic was light.

Well, hell…

Two

They ate at the Royal Diner. Diana ordered the chili and a glass of milk to douse the fire. She didn’t talk much, but then, Will wasn’t used to having conversation with his meals unless he ate at the club. He was still trying to figure out why she’d started crying, but when he’d asked her, she’d just shaken her head.

Women.

At least she’d stopped crying as suddenly as she’d started. Claimed dust had blown in her eye.

Sure it had.

“World-class coconut pie,” he said, forking up the last bite from his plate. “Want to take a slice home with you—or maybe a whole pie?”

Another thing about her that got to him was her smile. It started with a crinkling of the eyes, tweaked the corners of her lips and then it was gone, almost making a man wonder if he’d only imagined it.

“No, but thank you. I’d better get home before the rain starts again. It doesn’t rain often around here, but once it starts, it can make up for lost time.”

“Weather’s been crazy everywhere these past few years.”

So Will drove her back to the office building and left her at her car. Earlier that morning he’d carried down a box of her personal belongings. A small box. Evidently, she traveled light. He’d found himself wondering what was in it. Her own personal photographs? Family? A boyfriend? He doubted that, under the circumstances.

He hardly knew her, but if he had to guess, he’d say she wasn’t the type of woman to spread her personal relics around for public view.

But then, if he’d had to guess, he would never have pegged her for one of Jack’s conquests, either.

When she started to close her car door, he held it open and leaned down. “You’re sure you’re all right, Diana? You look a little washed out.”

“Thanks,” she said, and shot him another one of her quirky smiles. “Nothing a little blusher won’t take care of, I hope.”

Will watched her as she drove away in an eighties model sedan that was just one of the mysteries about Diana Foster that plagued him. She had a face that could easily be called patrician. A body that was tall, almost too lean, yet definitely, temptingly feminine. She wore outfits that could be bought at any discount store, yet he could easily imagine her striding down a runway wearing one of those slinky, transparent, cut-down-to-here-and-up-to-there outfits designed to raise a man’s blood pressure into the danger zone.

She could do that wearing black polyester slacks, a cotton pullover sweater and a battered twill raincoat.

Watching her drive off, swerving to avoid the deepest puddles, he visualized her mouth. She hadn’t bothered to replace the lipstick she’d eaten off with her chili.

Because she’d forgotten?

Or because he wasn’t worth the bother?

If she had any idea how vulnerable her naked lips looked, she’d have layered it on with a roller.

Vulnerable?

Where the hell had that come from? Tack, his ranch manager would have told him he’d been smoking too much locoweed.

One thing for sure—once the transition at work was completed, he was going to hightail it out to the ranch, spend a couple of weeks working with his stock, and then maybe go fishing. Maybe Baja. Maybe even the Outer Banks. Somewhere where nobody had ever heard of Wescott Oil.

It was still fairly early. Things were moving along faster than she’d expected at the office, thanks to Will Bradford’s efficiency. The rest could probably be accomplished in a few days. Mostly they had worked on weekends, to avoid interference by curious staff members eager to see what changes would be made, not only to the decor but to the operations. Sebastian and his father had never seen eye-to-eye on many things.

Pulling out of the employees’ parking lot, Diana imagined the big mug of cocoa she would have as soon as she got home. Since earliest childhood it had been her favorite comfort food, and, for no reason at all, she felt in sudden need of comfort. Probably this crazy weather. The temperature had dropped since they’d left the diner. A gust of wind sent a plastic bag and a large paper cup, complete with lid and straw, scurrying across the street in front of her car, distracting her from her thoughts momentarily.

This was the kind of weather when she would like nothing better than to curl up with a good book and alternately read and doze for the next twelve hours.

She yawned. Stress again. Too many decisions to be made.

What she should do was go through those boxes Jack had sent home with her, as if he’d had some sort of premonition. For all she knew, they contained Sebastian’s baby pictures and report cards. Or maybe love letters from all the women who had gone before her. She’d heard the whispers before she’d ever met the man.

But she was simply too tired tonight. Ever since Jack had died, two months ago, she’d been trying to make plans for the future. The trouble was she couldn’t seem to stay awake long enough to eat, much less to decide whether or not to move back to the secretarial pool at Wescott or pack up, leave town and look for another job in a new town where she didn’t know a soul.

Lately, all she seemed able to do was weep and sleep. Maybe she needed vitamins.

Without thinking, she pulled into the parking lot outside the small walk-in clinic she had passed every day on her way to work. There was probably nothing wrong with her that a handful of vitamins and a good night’s sleep wouldn’t cure, but why take chances? She needed to recover her energy if she was going to get through these next few days and decide on her future. Preventive medicine couldn’t prevent everything, but she was still a firm believer in taking control. Of her health, her life—everything. It wouldn’t hurt to have a professional check her out while she still had her company insurance, in case she decided to move on.

Little more than an hour later Diana walked out in a daze, oblivious to the rain that pounded down on her bare head. Oblivious to the wind that whipped her tan trench coat around her legs.

Pregnant?

Impossible!

Impossible but true. Three months, as far as Dr. Woodbury could determine without further tests. “Does it have to go on my record?” Diana had asked the nurse, thinking of all the embarrassing questions that could, and probably would, be asked. She didn’t know how many people had guessed about her and Jack—they’d both gone out of their way to be discreet, but in a town like Royal, secrets had a way of leaking out.

“Not if you don’t intend to use your insurance.”

“Oh. Well, could I just pay cash today and think about it?” With any luck, she could be in another town, settled in another job before she needed further medical attention.

Was pregnancy considered a preexisting condition?

Diana had a feeling the nurse was good at reading between the lines. “We can work it out any way that suits you, hon. Stop by the window and you can either pay today or we’ll bill you. Here, you’ll want to read these pamphlets. They tell you what to expect at which stage. Right now it’s one thing, tomorrow it might be something else. We’ll make you an appointment for six weeks, shall we?”

Diana nodded, knowing she wouldn’t be in Royal in another six weeks. This changed everything. Leaving was no longer an option, it was imperative. Once the pregnancy began to show and people put two and two together and realized whose baby she was carrying, things would be awkward, to say the least.

A baby.

To think she’d vowed to take control of her own life from here on out. Evidently, she hadn’t made the decision soon enough. She had always tried to be careful, but there had been that one time…. Jack had never been known for his patience. One time was all it took.

Out on the sidewalk she took a deep breath and tried to quell the rising panic by reminding herself that she’d always been the most levelheaded member of her family. The only levelheaded member.

After her father had died, her mother had fallen apart. Blamed herself and wept endlessly, claiming she hadn’t been a good enough wife. As much as she hated to admit it now, Diana had lost patience with her mother more than once. She had honestly thought, though, that if they moved to a new locale, her mother might perk up and take an interest in life again.

So they’d moved to Royal, Texas, a place she’d heard mentioned on the news one night, and she’d got a job as a secretary at Wescott Oil.

Instead of perking up, Lila Foster’s depression had grown worse, until Diana had insisted she undergo a complete examination to rule out any physical cause for her lethargy. It was only then that her mother had been diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer.

Frantic, Diana had been arguing with the insurance department at Wescott the day she’d met Jack Wescott, founder and chief shareholder of Wescott Oil.

“Whoa, little lady,” he’d said, clasping her by the arms as she’d backed out the door, still yelling, just as he was entering the building. He had held her a moment too long, staring at her angry tears, then he’d asked her name.

A week later she’d been moved up to the executive floors, where Jack, who was old enough to be her father, had begun a determined assault on her heart.

At least, she’d thought at the time it was her heart. Frantic with worry, she’d made mistake after mistake. It was a wonder she hadn’t been fired, but instead Jack had given her a raise and stepped up his courtship, offering her jewelry, a car, even a house.

It was when she’d burst into tears and poured out her story that he’d offered the one thing she hadn’t been able to refuse. The finest care available for her mother.

By the time her mother had died, Diana had been spending her days at the hospital and at least three nights a week with Jack at his lake cabin. Numbly, she’d gone through the motions of sex, often crying before it was over.

If he’d been brutal, she could almost have borne it better, but instead he’d been tender. They hadn’t been in love, but the relationship they’d shared had had value to him. She had an idea she was the only one who had realized it, but in his own way, Jack had been as lonely as she was. She had broken it off after her mother’s death. He’d seemed to understand.

And now she was going to have his baby. Thank goodness no one knew about it. The sooner she left town, the better.

The next morning Diana lay in bed, trying to find the energy to get up. She hadn’t accomplished a single thing when she’d gotten home from the clinic the day before. Instead she’d crashed on the miserable sofa with a sprung spring stabbing her in the ribs. She had slept, woken up and eaten half a box of vanilla wafers and then slept some more. That night she had lain awake for hours, trying to organize her life into some workable pattern.

A baby. Dear Lord, she couldn’t even manage to make decisions for herself. How could she ever take care of a baby?

By morning the rain had ended, but the temperature had plummeted still further. She crawled out of bed shivering, thought about breakfast and decided against it—too many vanilla wafers in the middle of the night could do that to a woman. Instead she dressed in her warmest slacks and a turtleneck sweater and headed for the office. There was a certain security in habit. Time to start breaking old habits and forming new ones, Diana reminded herself, only not quite yet. Not today.