might steal the next dance?”
“You can dance with whomever you please.” Grinning, he brushed a kiss against her brow. “As long as it’s with me.”
A moment later, they stopped before their uninvited guest and Alex extended his hand. His lip curling, Joe Davidson ignored the courtesy.
Inwardly groaning, Alex let his hand drop. “I take it there’s some problem?”
Davidson’s hard eyes settled on Natalie and his chin kicked up. “You don’t want your date hearing this.”
Alex’s jaw flexed. He was a patient man but he had no time for these kinds of games, particularly tonight.
“We’re celebrating my sister’s engagement. Please tell me what it is you’ve come to say. You’ll understand I’d like to get back.”
Amid the spin of party lights, Davidson’s walrus jowls darkened, but he kept his voice low, barely audible above the music. “Bridget’s pregnant. She’s not doing well. Not too well at all.”
Alex’s pulse rate spiked. Davidson was aware of Alex’s longtime friendship with a leading OB/GYN. Did Davidson hope to secure through him an urgent referral? If the circumstances were dire, why wasn’t the baby’s father here on the scene? Or wasn’t the father on the scene at all?
Alex tried to be tactful. “I didn’t realize Bridget was married.”
Davidson hissed, “She’s not.”
Alex’s shoulders rolled back. “What does this have to do with me?’
Blood in his eye, Davidson snapped out a curse and advanced. Paul’s large grip on his elbow hauled him back.
Alex held up a hand. “It’s all right, Paul. I’ll handle this.” His gaze drilled Davidson’s. “If you’re implying the child is mine, it’s not possible. Bridget and I were finished some time ago.”
“Like six months ago?”
At Joe’s response, Alex’s heart dropped to his feet.
They’d slept together only once, but he’d used protection. Excepting one, atypical time, he always used protection.
His head began to tingle.
Lord above, was it possible?
Chapter Two
Party noise filtered back into Alex’s conscience as Joe Davidson’s arms knotted over his dark polo shirt. “I take it you won’t object to a paternity test.”
Alex forced the words past the lump of wood stuck in his throat. “I need to speak to Bridget.”
“Hoping to pay her off?” Davidson’s burning eyes narrowed. “No amount will save you from taking responsibility for this.” The corners of his mouth dragged down in distaste. “You and your high-and-mighty family. Everyone knows where your grandfather got his money. Juan Ramirez was nothing better than a mobster.”
Alex eased forward, a subtle but one-time-only warning. “I’ll forget you said that.”
“Bridget kept this to herself,” Davidson went on. “Tonight she finally admitted the truth to her mother.” His voice cracked on a humourless laugh. “Can you believe it? Her life is ruined and she wants to save you from public scrutiny.”
Natalie shouldered past Alex. “Your daughter’s life isn’t ruined. She’ll have a beautiful baby and—”
Alex curled a quietening hand around her arm and tipped his chin at the exit. “It’s time you left, Joe.”
Paul Brennan edged forward. “I’ll escort you out.”
“You can’t sweep this under the mat,” Davidson seethed. “This isn’t the old days where families like yours shut people up. My daughter’s entitled to compensation.” Paul’s giant hand on Joe’s shoulder steered him toward the door. “You’ll hear from my lawyers…”
As the threats faded and Joe was marched to the lifts, Alex linked his arm through Natalie’s and turned at the same time the music paused. Below a sky of swaying balloons, curious faces were angled their way, including Teresa’s worried gaze, which found his from the far end of the room.
Straightening to his full height, Alex gave an “everything’s fine” salute, then led Natalie back to the dance floor.
The music faded back up but Natalie’s heels dug in. “How can you think about dancing?”
He studied her eyes, darker than their usual shade of green and yet full of indignant fire. “Nothing can be done tonight.”
He could strangle Davidson for making a public display of such a private matter, although it seemed obvious that performance had as much to do with Joe evening a past score. Joe Davidson was a successful hydraulics engineer. When Alex won a government contract for a purifying design four months back, Joe had accused him of “following family tradition” and bribing officials.
In truth, Alex had worked like a dog to assemble the right people with the right knowledge at the right price. That’s what he did best. He seized opportunities and made them work.
Her brow pinched, Natalie absently touched one pearl drop earring. “You’re right,” she murmured. “There’s nothing you can do right now. And if the child is yours…?”
Reaching the dance floor, he took her in his arms and began to lead. “I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.”
God willing, there’d be no need.
Admittedly he’d had his share of intimate partners, but from the outset of each affair he was honest. He wasn’t after long-term. Recently, however, the attraction of short-lived affairs had worn thin. The reason was clear.
Natalie Wilder.
He’d never been smitten before and he couldn’t pinpoint why Natalie had taken such a hold of his sensibilities. His rational side said it was absurd, yet it was difficult not to think of her day and night.
She was beautiful, certainly. Intelligent, wellread, dignified. Everything any man could want in a companion. But the attraction—the deep-seated, powerful need—went beyond that. Something in her slumberous emerald-green eyes spoke to him. Something defiant yet almost sad. Something that begged to be released if only he found the right key.
Fact was, whatever unintentional spell she’d cast over him, he wasn’t prepared to have their affair end just yet. This misunderstanding with Bridget would be fixed, life would return to normal, and he and Natalie could go back to enjoying each day and each other.
“Alexander, I haven’t met your date.”
Brought back, he stepped aside then, smiling, dropped a kiss on his sister’s cheek. “Teresa, this is Natalie Wilder.”
Shaking back her exuberant mane of raven’s wing hair, Teresa clasped her hands under her chin. “At last! The mystery woman.”
Natalie
