Bachelor Mother (26 page)

This was dangerous territory. Territory he had no desire to explore. He tried for a joke. Anything to lighten the mood.

"Even in those fairy tales you love, the prince is usually given a year and a day."

"I don't have a year. And you, young man, have barely a day. I want some changes and I want them now."

Cameron stared at his grandfather as if seeing him for the very first time. He had slipped up. Badly. He'd had no idea the concept of great-grandchildren meant so much to Julian. When he'd walked into his grandfather's office, he hadn't expected this. Not at all.

First rule of business – know your opponent.

He'd badly underestimated Julian Black.

"Marriage... and a child," he said quietly.

"Yes." Julian stopped his pacing and stared at his grandson. "Forgive me, Cameron, but I don't see any other way."

"And I'm to love her?"

The question filled the elegant room. Emotion hovered between them. Emotion and painful memories.

Julian cleared his throat. Cameron sensed he was buying himself some time.

"In the best of all possible worlds, my boy, you would. But I don't expect a miracle. A great-grandchild, boy or girl, will be miracle enough for me."

"So you'll have no objections if I basically look for a brood mare." The words were intended to hurt. He was gratified to see his grandfather wince.

"No. I'm sorry, Cameron—"

But he was already out of his chair and headed toward the door. "Save it. I've got thirty days, remember? Oh, thirty-one, no thirty-two, if you count the generous extra day—"

"Cameron!"

His grandfather's voice could still crack like a whip. Years of devoted obedience made him stop with his hand on the doorknob and wait for the old man's last words.

"I want you to keep one thing in mind. In those fairy tales that I so love, a prince setting out on a quest usually finds more than he's originally looking for."

The older man's voice trembled slightly. Cameron had to fight the urge to go to his side and offer comfort. But he was angry, so angry at this emotional betrayal. He stood his ground and they faced off, two basically arrogant males who were so alike and yet thought so differently on this one issue.

But he no longer had the heart to hurt his grandfather.

"I'll bear that in mind."

* * *

Michaela Larkin punched the intercom button on her phone.

"Cassandra?" she asked her secretary.

"Cameron Black on one. I have the feeling it's urgent."

She smiled. With Cameron it was always urgent.

"Put him through."

"Mike. Hello. I need your legal expertise."

She'd worked for Teddy's Toys before, assisting them in drawing up various legal documents. She'd dealt with both Cameron and his grandfather, Julian. She liked and respected Julian Black.

She'd fallen deeply, soulfully, head-over-heels in love with Cameron the moment she'd met him.

Unfortunately, her feelings weren't shared.

So she loved him from afar and continued with her usual sporadic pattern of dating. But it did no good, for whenever she spent the evening in any man's company, she secretly compared him to Cameron.

And found her date wanting.

She didn't really go out much these days. She had her reasons for not wanting to get too close to any man.

But Cameron, that was different. She hadn't been able to resist her attraction to him and that sensual attraction had been mutual, palpable—until he’d jokingly told her he didn't believe in love.

That had squelched all feeling on her side.

Oh, she knew of his reputation. Who in San Francisco didn't? She knew Cameron Black
liked
  women enough to let them know the score up front. She just didn't think she could bear to be one of those women. It would break her heart if she let him love her and he chose to leave her.

So she simply had her dreams from afar. And wondered, deep in her heart, if there was a way to make him see reason.

Maybe not reason. Emotion.

Probably not.

He'd started calling her Mike soon after she'd resisted his advances. She wondered if it was a device he used to help him not think of her as a woman. She was an appendage, a
thing,
a lawyer. She had her uses but none of them involved the usual activities Cameron participated in with the opposite sex.

"What's up?" She slipped her heels off and wiggled her toes. Talking with Cameron was a highlight in her day and she settled back in her comfortable office chair to enjoy herself.

"I need a wife."

She sat up straight. "Excuse me?"

"I need a wife."

She swallowed hard. "I thought that's what you said."

"Look, I know how this must sound. Let me explain." Briefly he told her his situation.

Michaela simply stared at her desk blotter then closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair again.

"How exactly are you going to go about doing this?" she asked, her voice more breathy than she would've liked. She felt as if someone had just plowed a fist into her stomach.

"With the utmost efficiency. But what I need from you is a legal document that anticipates all the possible pitfalls of this particular relationship, as well as setting absolute boundaries."

Boundaries, she thought. Ah, yes, Cameron knew all about setting boundaries. She felt as if his heart were frozen in ice and had no idea how to begin to go about reaching him.

Sexual and emotional chemistry was a mystery to her. Why did it hit with one man and not another?

Why did it make her want the one man who was probably the most unattainable?

She brought her attention back to the matter at hand.

"Dinner tonight? Of course I'm available."

Business, Michaela. Business.

They chatted a moment longer, decided on a restaurant, then she hung up the phone and spent the next fifteen minutes staring out her office window overlooking the bay and wondering how she was ever going to endure the thought of the man she secretly loved being married to someone else.

* * *

"So, Mike, the way I see it, I'm basically renting a woman's uterus in exchange for her having carte blanche with my credit cards and spending money to her heart's content."

Michaela swirled her white wine in her glass and watched the pattern the golden liquid made. She couldn't quite meet Cameron's eyes.

''It sounds so... I don't know...
cold-blooded,
for lack of a better word."

"It's a business arrangement, pure and simple. Don't look so shocked. Marriages have been arranged between men and women since the beginning of time. It's only been a recent experiment in history, the idea of marrying for love."

"Which you don't believe in, anyway." The wine was making her bolder than she usually was with a client and she bit down hard on her tongue. What Cameron chose to do in the face of his grandfather's ultimatum was really none of her business. None at all.

"I know it may seem rather...
cold
  of me, Mike, but the thing is, Jules can't run that company by himself and he knows it. And if he gives it to that disorganized charity he's so fond of, they'll run it into the ground within a year."

She nodded her head, agreeing with him in spite of herself. "I like the guys running the Foundation for Play, but I know what you mean. Bart and Ron aren't the most experienced businessmen in the world."

"That's an understatement."

The restaurant Cameron had selected was quiet and tasteful, with a view that overlooked San Francisco Bay. The menu offered mostly seafood and Northern Italian pasta dishes, and the wine list was excellent.

They'd already ordered and had finished an appetizer. Now Cameron began to lay out his plan.

"First of all, I want you to know this is not about money."

She nodded her head, reaching for another piece of bread. Cameron's parents had left him an obscene amount of money in their will. Though his fortune didn't rival his grandfather's, he'd invested it wisely and never had to worry about financial matters for the rest of his life.

"I understand."

"I just don't want to see the company that Jules has put his heart and soul into go completely down the drain."

She nodded her head.

"He's obsessed with this irrational idea. It leaves me absolutely no choice but to make this decision."

He'd already explained to her what he was going to do but she forced herself to ask the next question anyway.

"Isn't there...someone? Someone you're seeing, who might...want to do this particular deal with you?"

"No one I'd trust."

She watched him as he took another sip of wine. He was a brilliant, complicated man and she thought of what an utter waste it was that no woman would ever truly share his life.

"I'll need this document as soon as possible. I intend to use social media to find a suitable woman and fill this position as soon as possible.”

She bit her lip. "Won't that...humiliate Julian, just a little?"

"Oh, I have no intention of letting anyone know he's behind it. I'm going to simply say the time has come for me to marry and I'm taking applications." He took another sip of his wine. "Jules will get the point."

"I'm sure he will."

Their main dishes arrived and there was a short silence while they began their dinner. The food was exquisite, the restaurant had a lovely, restful atmosphere, but Michaela felt like she had a hundred pound weight in her stomach. She forced herself to eat several forkfuls of the pasta she'd ordered.

"How are you feeling toward your grandfather?" she finally asked. She knew she was trespassing, knew Cameron Black considered himself to be above simple emotions. But she still, with her woman's heart, wanted to try.

"He's guilty."

"Why?"

"Oh, he still feels guilty for leaving me alone with my parents all that time. Not that there was anything wrong with them. They simply liked to have a good time."

A good time, she thought, that hadn't included their little boy. She'd gone to the library and searched through back issues of the
San Francisco Examiner 
until she'd found what she was looking for.

The black and white picture had been quite revealing. Cameron had been all of five years old, clutching his grandfather's hand as he'd watched his parents' funeral. They'd been killed instantly when their private plane had gone down en route to Monaco.

He'd been left all alone most of the time before his parents died, with a succession of very efficient nannies. But his grandfather had loved him, brought him back to his enormous estate on Nob Hill. He'd filled his room with toys and given his grandson everything he could want.

Cameron's childhood had been inextricably entwined with Teddy's Toys. The public had delighted in seeing the little boy taking his daily walk around the city with his grandfather. Julian Black had been the kind of man who always had candy in his coat pockets or a small stuffed toy up his sleeve.

"And that's why he wants a great-grandchild?"

Cameron sighed, then looked straight at her. And Michaela thought she would never grow tired of studying him, his dark hair, well-defined cheekbones and strong jaw. His eyes were a brilliant dark blue, and so very, very shrewd. And guarded.

"I do realize family is important. I simply wish I had a younger sister or brother to take up the slack so I could be left alone."

She took another bite of pasta before she realized the look in his eyes had changed.

"What about you, Mike? Would you change your mind about me and ever consider an arrangement like this?"

"What?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Would you consider having my child?"

* * *

He wasn't sure what had triggered it but all at once she crumbled. Her blue eyes filled with tears and she looked carefully down at her almost untouched plate.

"Mike?" he said softly, suddenly unsure of himself.

No answer, but a tear escaped from one of her eyes, then another. She reached up and wiped them away and it seemed to him that she was angry with herself.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice so low and shaky he had to lean forward to hear her.

"Mike," he said, then took her hand and held it, offering reassurance. She had no idea how she affected him and that was why he'd struggled to keep their relationship on a strictly business level. The way she affected his senses and the fact that she deserved more than he would ever be capable of giving her held him back.

He was, in his own way, an honorable man.

"Mike?"

She took a deep, wavering breath. "I'm sorry. What you said just... brought back memories. I was married before—"

He hadn't known that.

"And we... I mean, I couldn't have children. He wanted them quite badly. Children of his own. He wouldn't consider adoption, so we divorced."

The bastard.
  His reaction to the thought of any man hurting her was so strong it caught him off guard. He tightened his hold on her hand. With his other, he reached into his suit pocket and handed her a clean white handkerchief.

"If you don't want to do this contract, I'll understand."

"No. It's all right. Sometimes it just... catches me off guard."

"How long ago did it happen?"

"Almost five years, since... when I found out I couldn't."

He patted her hand awkwardly, then let go of it while she blew her nose again and wiped her eyes. It was a crime, the way fate masterminded one's life. Here he had no desire for offspring, and the whole choice was being foisted on him by Jules's ultimatum. And, Michaela, sitting across from him, soft and warm and feminine,
excellent
  mother material, couldn't have children of her own.

Life was a funny business.

He let her take her time composing herself and didn't comment when the waiter took away her almost untouched plate. They ordered coffee and tiramisu and sat in silence.

"I can have the contract to your office in three days."

"That would be excellent."

He watched as she took a careful sip of coffee, then looked at him and met his eyes.