A reputation that she’d been well aware of. She’d only gone out with him after he’d pursued her persistently while she’d worked on the renovation of Garrison headquarters. Even then, it had been against her better judgment. Of course, once she’d found out about his cheating, she’d castigated herself for her naiveté.
“I can hardly remember who you’re talking about! Women have thrown themselves at me—”
“And that’s the problem,” she retorted. Definitely not Daddy material. Not then, and not now. “You’re the Garrison Grand’s owner. You operate in a sophisticated world.”
A heartless world.
A muscle worked in his jaw. “Even if I’d slept with someone else, it doesn’t justify your hiding Jade.”
“Oh, yes, it does,” she responded. “It meant as far as you were concerned, we weren’t serious. It confirmed you were still a player. I knew you wouldn’t be thrilled to discover I was pregnant.”
If she couldn’t trust him with her heart, how could she trust him with her baby?
At least, that’s what she’d told herself whenever she’d had doubts about keeping Jade’s existence a secret.
“How can you be so damn sure of my reaction when I’m not even sure what the hell my reaction would have been?” he tossed back, then raked his hand through his hair. “How could you have gotten pregnant? We used protection.”
She’d wondered the same thing for a time. Now, she shrugged her shoulders. “I took some antibiotics for a sinus infection. They must have interfered with the pill.”
He just continued to look at her fixedly.
She steadied herself. “The question is, where do we go from here?”
She dreaded raising the issue, but it was a question that had to be asked.
“I’ll tell you where we’re not going, and that’s back to you excluding me from Jade’s life.”
His words chilled her. The thought of Jade somehow, someday, being taken away from her was her biggest fear.
“What do you mean?” she breathed.
“I mean,” he said, his expression flinty, “you’re going to marry me and publicly acknowledge I’m Jade’s father.”
“What? You can’t be serious!” Even as her heart thudded, she tried to wrap her mind around the idea and couldn’t.
“But I am, sweetheart,” he responded implacably.
“And if I say no?”
His face closed, hardening, and she got a glimpse of Stephen, the ruthless businessman. “Then I’ll take you to court to establish my parental rights. I’ll use every means at my disposal to give you the legal battle of your life and to get access to my daughter.”
She knew those means were formidable. Stephen had wealth, power and political influence, not to mention the Garrison empire to back him up.
Still, she managed to find her voice, and say evenly, “I’d probably win a custody battle. The law is on my side as Jade’s mother and the one who’s raised her.”
“You couldn’t afford a fight, and even if you could, would you want to risk it?” he shot back.
No, she acknowledged, if only to herself. She knew Stephen had the money to hire the best lawyers in town, which would make for a protracted and messy battle. He could very well win generous visitation rights, at the least.
“Think about it,” he said, seeming to read her mind. “One way or another, I’m in your life.”
“I could fight you.” She wasn’t without some means herself. But she knew she was out of her league with Stephen.
And that was the heart of the matter. He’d always been out of her league, in every way.
“Yeah,” he acknowledged too quietly, “but think about your career. You just got a new start in Miami. You don’t have the time for a legal battle, and your professional reputation will take a hit.”
She hated that he was right. Her professional reputation would suffer. Interior design was such a fickle business. Who would want to hire a woman whose personal life was a disaster? Who might be trailed by reporters to their doorstep?
Stephen had influence in this town. He was a trendsetter and more. She knew there would be people who’d want to keep on his good side—and that would include not doing business with the former lover with whom Stephen was involved in a messy child-custody fight.
“Why are you doing this me?” she whispered, distraught.
“Isn’t that my line?” he countered. “Why did you do this to me?”
She opened and closed her mouth.
“No matter what,” he said flatly, “we’re joined at the hip.”
“Oops, sorry to intrude!”
Megan turned and saw Tiffany standing in the doorway from the hallway to the living room. She had no idea how long the sitter had been there.
“I didn’t realize you were still here, Megan,” Tiffany said, “but I thought I’d check because you usually tell me when you’re leaving.” Then glancing from Stephen back to her, she added, “Didn’t you say your dinner was at seven?”
Megan closed her eyes. She’d almost forgotten about her business dinner!
Opening her eyes again, she looked at her watch. It was nearing six. She’d have to hurry.
Tiffany looked from her to Stephen, and evidently judging that she’d walked in on a heated conversation, she took a step back. “I left Jade in the kitchen. Call me if you need anything.”
When the sitter had retreated, Megan looked back at Stephen. “I have a business dinner in a little over an hour to court a potential new client. That’s why Tiffany came over.”
She’d made an exception to her rule not to let business intrude on her weekends with Jade because Conrad had asked her for a favor. She was supposed to meet Conrad and the potential client at a downtown Miami restaurant—and she wasn’t even dressed yet.
Stephen looked at her coldly. “I’m giving you until Monday to make up your mind. And I’m only giving you that amount of time because I know you’re scheduled to come by the Garrison Grand and we can talk then without having Jade around.” He paused. “You already got four years.”
Megan watched then as Stephen strode to the front door and slammed out of her house.
But not out of her life, she thought with a pang.
Five
The Mediterranean-style Garrison estate in Bal Harbour should have felt like home, but it didn’t.
Still,
