The Millionaire's Pregnant Mistress

He stared up at her, a vague smile curling his lips.

She propped her hands on her hips and glared at him. “I fail to see what it is about this situation you find amusing.”

He leaned back in his chair, gazing up at her. “I was just thinking about that night in the resort.”

Oh great, now did he think sex would be a part of the deal? “What about it?”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you.”

Now he liked her? That didn’t make any sense.

“You are the most stubborn, self-centered, confusing person I have ever met,” she said, and his grin widened. She never imagined a man so dark and sexy could look so…cute.

Cute? What was she thinking? He wasn’t cute. He was a big pain in the neck.

She flung her hands up. “Fine, don’t help me. Because frankly, it isn’t worth the trouble. The baby and I will manage without you.”

She turned to leave and was halfway to the door when she heard him call, “Tess, wait.”

No way. She was through arguing about this. She and the baby would make it without him. She wasn’t sure how, but she would manage.

She made it to the door and had her hand on the knob when she heard him say, “Please, stay.”

She reluctantly turned back to him.

“I know there has to be a way we can make this work.”

“Unless you’re willing to compromise, I don’t see how.”

“I am.” He gestured to the chair across from his desk. “Please, sit.”

Because he said please, she crossed the room and took a seat.

“Tell me what works for you, then we’ll figure something out.”

“You’re serious?”

“Absolutely.”

“First I have to ask, why the change of heart? Why are you willing to compromise now, when fifteen minutes ago you were being an ogre?”

He wasn’t insulted by the observation, in fact, he smiled. “Fifteen minutes ago I thought I knew who you were.”

“And now?”

“Now I realize I was wrong.”

Tess prayed silently the way she did every morning as her old junker chugged its way up the mountain to the staff parking lot behind the resort. It had stalled twice on the way here. Once she’d flooded the engine and had to wait several minutes, holding up traffic, before it would turn over again.

Her carburetor was terminally ill, but it would be at least three or four months before she had the money saved to replace it. And that was if she did the work herself—which she was pretty sure she could manage given the time to figure it out. She’d blown her entire savings plus a week’s groceries on a gas pump last month. The co-pay for her monthly doctor visits and prenatal vitamins was eating up the rest of her extra cash.

The downside to residing in a resort town was the astronomical cost of living. If she skipped grocery shopping again on Sunday, that would shave a week off her expenses, but the doctor had already expressed concern that she wasn’t gaining enough weight, and a healthy diet was critical for a healthy pregnancy.

She’d spent the last few days thinking about Ben’s offer. As far as she could tell, when she’d threatened to leave, he finally realized she was telling the truth. That the pregnancy was an accident and she wasn’t after his money. Though for the life of her, she still didn’t understand why it was so important that he have her living in his house. But when she stopped to think about it, there was no reason why she absolutely shouldn’t live there. She would have her own suite and could come and go as she pleased.

Everything he’d had to offer sounded pretty good, except for one thing. Despite every other concession he’d made, he still insisted she quit her job.

Tess couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t had some sort of job. Babysitting, delivering papers, stocking shelves at the party store—anything to earn a little extra spending cash. And later, hard work had been a way out of the hellhole that was her stepdad’s house.

If she quit working now, what would she do for money? She already felt uncomfortable taking things from Ben. But to be totally dependent on him?

Frankly, she was scared. What if she gave up her job, then found out he was some kind of creep or weirdo? She’d be stuck, because she seriously doubted anyone would be jumping at the chance to hire a pregnant woman.

She’d told him to give her a few days to think about it, but she still wasn’t sure what to do.

She pulled her car into a spot at the back of the employee lot, glanced at her watch, and cursed under her breath. She was ten minutes late.

Hopping from the car, she bolted for the back entrance. Olivia Montgomery, the owner of the resort, ruled like a foreign dictator, expecting one hundred and ten percent from her employees. Tardiness was not acceptable. And because of her temperamental carburetor, this was Tess’s third time in two weeks.

Tess shoved her way through the door and headed to the employee locker room behind the kitchen. As she turned the corner, her heart sank when she saw the morning shift manager standing next to her locker waiting for her.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said. “Car trouble.”

His sour expression was tarter than usual. She was convinced the guy sucked lemons for breakfast. “Mrs. Montgomery would like a word with you.”

Oh, swell. Getting chewed out by her boss was not her favorite way to start the day.

She shoved her jacket and purse into her locker and headed for Mrs. Montgomery’s office, where the secretary greeted her with a sympathetic smile. “Go on in, she’s waiting for you.”

Tess opened the door and stepped inside the lush office. Her boss was on the phone, but gestured to the chair across from her desk, her expression unreadable.

She spoke for several minutes, then said goodbye to the person on the line, hung up the phone and turned to Tess.

Tess had learned that the best thing to do in a situation like this was to shelve her pride and take responsibility for her actions. “I’m very sorry for being late. I know it’s unacceptable. I swear it won’t happen again.”

Her boss very calmly folded her hands atop her desk. “This is the third time in two weeks, Tess.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

“Well then, you can make it up by working a few extra shifts this week,” she said in that condescending, I’m God and you’re a peon tone. “We have several people out with the flu.”

Tess was already working over fifty hours a week. She’d been suffering a chronic backache and swollen knees from being on her feet too long, and her bad ankle had been stiff and sore. It also seemed that no matter how many hours she slept, she woke feeling exhausted. But she knew that if she didn’t work the extra hours Mrs. Montgomery would find a reason to fire her. She knew Tess was pregnant, and that in several months she would be eligible for paid maternity leave.

She’d been looking for a reason to let Tess go.

And because of that, Tess had been working her tail off at a job that she quite frankly despised, for far less money than she deserved. Didn’t she deserve a break? Hadn’t she earned it?

She thought about Ben’s enormous house and what it would be like to live there. What it would be like to not have to get up at 5 a.m. and drag herself to work. To stay up late watching movies and eating popcorn. To sleep until noon. How it would feel to relax and enjoy her pregnancy.

So maybe she wouldn’t have a lot of extra spending money. So what? She was used to getting by on a tight budget.

But if she did this, that would be it, she would be stuck with Ben for five long months. Although, if she had to be stuck with someone, she could have done a lot worse.

“Well?” Mrs. Montgomery said tightly, expecting an answer.

“No,” Tess said. “I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Her boss’s eyes narrowed. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice.”

That wasn’t true. For the first time in her life, Tess actually did have a choice.

What it all came down to was, what was best for her child? She grew up with nothing. Ben had everything. She wanted something in between for her baby.

If she accepted Ben’s offer, the baby would never want for life’s basic necessities, never feel threatened or abused. Her child would go to good schools and get a college education, would have all the opportunities she never had.

Ben could give them that, if she just had a little faith.

She still wasn’t one hundred percent sure she could trust him, but she was so sick of feeling achy and tired and overworked. Maybe it was time she took a chance on him, the way he’d taken a chance on her.

She flashed her boss a smile, feeling that, for the first time in months, maybe she was doing the right thing. “I do have a choice, Mrs. Montgomery. And I choose to quit.”

Three

“Benjamin, I’m sorry to interrupt, but there’s someone here to see you.”

Ben looked up from the computer screen to find Mrs. Smith standing in his office doorway. She opened the door wider and behind her stood Tess.

Her cheeks were pink from the cold and her eyes bright. She was dressed in a denim skirt and a fuzzy olive sweater that was just tight enough to reveal her stomach was no longer flat. She looked good. In spite of himself, he smiled.

He couldn’t deny he was happy to see her. For reasons he probably shouldn’t be.

He rose from his seat. “You’re back.”

She nodded and flashed him a tentative smile. “I’m back.”

Mrs. Smith shot Ben a stern look. One that said she wasn’t crazy about this arrangement—which she’d made clear on more than one occasion in the past few days—and she still thought he was making a mistake. Then she stepped out and shut the door behind her.

“I take it you’ve made a decision?”

“I have,” she said. “I quit my job this morning. My bags are packed and I’m here to stay.”

The news was an enormous weight off his mind. Things were now under control. She and the baby were finally safe.

“I should probably warn you that my car committed suicide about a hundred feet down the driveway.”

“My condolences.”

She shrugged. “The carburetor was terminally ill. I don’t suppose you could spring for a new one. I’ll reimburse you.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

He might have worried it was just another scam, but he’d learned an awful lot about Tess these past few days. Since one could never be too careful in a situation like this, he’d hired a private detective to check her out. He’d found nothing in her past to indicate foul play. She had no criminal record, no past deviant or questionable activity. Nothing to suggest she might be conning him. Tess was exactly who she appeared to be. A hardworking woman just doing her best to get by. She had never wanted more from him than a little financial help.

With that knowledge, something deep in his soul felt oddly settled.

Not that he expected this to be easy. Making love with Tess had made him feel alive for the first time in months—had given him hope that he had a chance for happiness again. But even if he’d asked her to stay that night, if he’d let himself fall for her, a child would have never been part of the deal. Seeing Tess’s growing belly would be a constant reminder of everything he’d lost.

He’d loved Jeanette, but she was gone. He’d accepted that. It was losing his son that still stung like a fresh wound. A slash through his heart that would never stop bleeding.

In some ways he felt ready to move on, in others he was still trapped in the past.

“So,” Tess asked, dropping into the chair across from his desk, “how exactly is this going to work?”

“It will be exactly as we discussed the other day. You’ll stay here with me until it’s born. Afterward I’ll set you and the baby up in a condo with a generous trust.”

She gazed intently at him, as if she were trying to see into his head, to be sure what he said was true.

The color of her sweater seemed to draw out the yellow in her irises. He remembered thinking that night in the bar how unusual they were. How bright and full of curiosity, and maybe a little sad.

He’d watched her for a while before approaching her, fascinated by her petite, striking features. By her warm, genuine smile as she chatted with the bartender. And when she looked his way, and their eyes met and locked, there had been enough sparks to melt the snow on the entire mountain. It hit him with such force that it had nearly knocked him out of his chair.

Even now there was something about the woman that messed with his head.

“Sounds almost too good to be true,” she said.

“Meaning…?”

“Look, it’s not that I don’t trust you, but…”

“But you don’t trust me,” he said, and she gave him a sheepish shrug. “I’m not offended. Put in your position, I wouldn’t trust me, either.”

“Honestly, you seem like an okay guy. A little overbearing maybe…It’s just that I’m giving up an awful lot here. I’m watching my back, you know? I don’t really know anything about you.”

He understood completely. He would never enter into a business agreement on a handshake deal. “I’ve already spoken to my attorney about drawing up a contract.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “And I’m supposed to trust this attorney?”

“You’re free to have the attorney of your choice look over the documents before you sign anything—at my expense of course.”

“I guess that sounds fair.”

“I should warn you that my lawyer has insisted on a confidentiality clause.”

“Confidentiality? Who am I going to tell?”

“This is as much for yours and the baby’s protection as mine. It was abhorrent the way the media exploited my wife’s death. For months after, they made my life a living hell. There was an unauthorized biography written about her life and a made-for-television movie. Neither was what you could consider flattering, or had barely an ounce of truth. Trust me when I say that you don’t ever want to know what that’s like.”

“When I found out from the girls at work who you were, I went to the library and did a little research.”

“What kind of research?”

“Old newspaper articles and magazines, Internet stuff.”

He wanted to feel indignant, but really he had done the same thing. “And what did you find?”

“There was a lot. So I get why you’re worried.”

“Things have finally died down. I don’t want to stir the pot. The fewer people who know about this the better.”

“I understand. I don’t want that, either.”

He didn’t want to alarm her, but it was only fair that he caution her about what she might be getting herself into. “I’m not suggesting you should break all ties and avoid your friends—”

“I don’t have any friends.” She smiled and added. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded. Like, oh poor me I have no friends. It’s just that I haven’t lived here long and I work so many hours I never really found the time to make too many friends. Not close ones, anyway.”

And now he was basically telling her not to make friends at all.

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll be careful.”

“Then I guess that just about covers it,” he said.

“Um, actually, there are a couple more things.”

“Okay.”

“I’m not sure how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. I won’t live with an alcoholic. You have to stop drinking.”

Her words took him aback. What had given her the impression he had a problem with alcohol? Because he had an occasional drink? Who didn’t? Or had she read about him in the tabloids? Removing himself from the public eye, hiding away, had only served to fuel the media’s interest. God only knows what rumors they had been spreading lately. He’d stopped paying attention a long time ago.

He opened his mouth to deny the accusation, then realized that was exactly what an alcoholic would do. Damned if he did, damned if he didn’t.

Instead he asked, “If I refuse?”

“The deal is off.”

Seeing as how he wasn’t an alcoholic, it was a small sacrifice to make.

“I’ll quit drinking,” he told her.

She gave him a wary look, her pixie features sharpening with suspicion. “You’ll quit drinking. Just like that?”

“Just like that.” He walked over to the minibar, picked up the decanter of scotch he kept there and poured its contents into the sink. He enjoyed an occasional drink, but it wasn’t something he couldn’t live without.

She narrowed her eyes, as though she wasn’t sure she could trust him. “You’ll put it in the contract?”

“Done. Anything else?”

“After the baby is born, I’d like you to loan me the money to go back to school. I got my GED last year and I really want to go to college.”

“I’ll set up a trust that will ensure you’ll never have to work another day in your life.”

“Sitting around eating bonbons and getting facials may appeal to the women in your inner circle, but I want to do something with my life. I want to be able to look back and feel that I’ve accomplished something.”

“I have nothing against working mothers. But I do believe a child should be raised by its parents, not a nanny or a babysitter.”

Tess wondered if his movie star wife had been planning to give up her career once their child had been born.

Somehow she doubted it.

If Ben wanted to take care of his child financially, that was one thing. She was more than capable of taking care of herself.

“If it makes you feel any better,” she said, “I agree completely with your values. I wouldn’t even consider going back to work until the baby is in school. So it might take time for me to pay you back.”

“I don’t want you to pay me back.”

“But I will anyway.”

He looked as though he might argue, then gave his head a shake, like he realized it was probably useless. “Is there anything else?”

“The other day you said I could keep my doctor.”

“If that’s what you want.”

“Good. Then, I guess that covers it.”

One of those cute smiles curled his mouth and like a silly school girl she felt her knees go weak. The man was too good looking for his own good. He was wearing black again, as he had every single time she’d seen him—a good indication that he really didn’t own anything that wasn’t black. Maybe it was his trademark. She wondered if he wore black boxers, too. Or maybe bikinis.

Whatever his underwear preference, it was clear she’d made him happy, and for some reason that made her feel really good. The man had been through an awful lot. She’d tried to convince herself he was just some guy who happened to be the father of her baby. But when they were near each other she felt so…aware of him. Connected in a way that she didn’t think had anything to do with the child she was carrying.

Even worse, she was pretty sure he felt it, too.

“I’ll call my attorney and have him draw up the papers. Mrs. Smith will see you to your suite.”

“Before you do, there’s something about this that just doesn’t make sense to me.”

“What’s that?”

“If you don’t want the baby, why are you doing this?”

He was quiet for a moment and when he looked at her, his eyes were so sad. “I take responsibility for my actions.”

She shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it. If you didn’t care about this baby, it would have been a hell of a lot easier to pay me off and send me on my way.”

“I never said I didn’t care.”

If he did care, why couldn’t he be a part of the baby’s life?

And just like that, something clicked. Suddenly this whole thing made sense. Why he insisted she stay here. Honestly, she didn’t know why she hadn’t figured it out before.

He blamed himself for his son’s death. By keeping her here, he thought he was keeping her and the baby safe.

“Nothing is going to happen to me or the baby,” she said. “I’m used to taking care of myself.”

He gave her a look so full of pain and anguish she felt it straight through to her heart. “I didn’t protect my son and now he’s gone. That’s one mistake I won’t be making again.”

The malevolent Mrs. Smith led Tess up the wide marble staircase to her room. Tess followed her through the ornately carved double doors—didn’t they have any normal doors in this place—to what would be home for the next five months.

Her first impression was the sheer size of the room, but it mostly just looked dark and depressing. The scent of paint and new carpet lingered underneath the refreshing lilt of potpourri. She looked around for a light switch. “Don’t you people ever turn on lights?”

Casting her a dour look, Mrs. Smith marched across the room and yanked open the heavy drapes shading the windows, flooding the room with warm afternoon sunshine. The transformation of dark to light made Tess gasp.

Decorated in warm beiges and soft greens, the room blossomed around her like a budding spring garden. The overstuffed furniture looked comfortable and inviting. The kind you could sink deeply into, curl up with a good book and lose yourself for an entire afternoon. She kicked off her shoes and dug her toes into carpeting so thick and luxuriant it felt like walking on pillows.

It was fresh and warm and alive. The perfect place to nurture the new life growing inside her.

If she had all the rooms in the world to choose, this would be the one she would pick.

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “And everything looks so new.”

“And let’s try to keep it that way,” Mrs. Smith said in that holier-than-thou tone. “Benjamin asked me to furnish you with whatever you need.”

Orders she would follow, but not happily. But Tess was determined to remain marginally polite. She had the sneaking suspicion she would be running into this woman an awful lot over the next five months. Meaning that if she were so inclined, she could make Tess’s life a living hell. “Thank you.”

“I’ve taken the liberty of removing anything of value.” She flashed Tess that condescending, distasteful look. As if Tess were not a houseguest, but something she’d scraped from the bottom of her shoe. Ben obviously hadn’t instructed her to be nice.

Tess wouldn’t give the old bird the satisfaction of knowing she’d bruised her pride. “Aw darn, my fence will be so disappointed.”

With the ferocity of a mother bear protecting her cubs, she all but growled at Tess, “After all that Benjamin has been through, he doesn’t deserve this. I won’t let you hurt him.”

Tess didn’t point out that it took two to tango, and if Ben didn’t want to be in this situation, maybe he should have become a monk. At the very least he shouldn’t have taken Tess up to his room.

But what good would it do to try to defend herself when she was sure the frigid woman believed Tess had gotten pregnant on purpose? And Tess couldn’t deny her own background. There was no escaping her social status. She’d been the last born in a long line of uneducated blue-collar workers. She hadn’t even gone to college.

At least with her child Tess would be breaking the cycle.

“Dinner is at seven in the dining room,” Mrs. Smith said in that cold, annoyed tone, then she turned and left, shutting the door behind her.

Tess let out a long, tired sigh and looked around, deciding the sooner she got herself settled in, the better. But she didn’t see her bags. Across the room, through a second set of doors—ornate and gaudy of course—Tess found herself in an enormous bedroom. Not surprised that it was dark, she crossed the room and flung open the curtains, letting in a wash of golden sunshine. To her delight, the bedroom had been decorated in the same warm, earthy tones. She opened a set of French doors and stepped out onto the balcony, filling her lungs with fresh air. The view of the gardens below was breathtaking. Spring flowers exploded with color and rolling green grass seemed to stretch for miles. The white tips of the Scott Bar Mountains towered in the distance underneath a clear blue sky.

Wow.

This she could definitely live with.

She stepped back inside and found her bags waiting for her by the king-sized bed. She carried them to the cavernous walk-in closet, set them down then continued on into an enormous bathroom decorated in soft yellows with a Jacuzzi tub big enough for a family of four and an enclosed glass shower stall with two heads.