and I will take care of you and the baby. In a couple of years, or whenever you’re ready, we’ll divorce. You’ll be financially stable and no longer dealing with a newborn.”
She was as caught up in the fact that he was holding her hand as in what he was saying. His touch was gentle, yet firm. His skin warm. There was nothing sexual or romantic in the contact, but she was still very aware of him sitting so close to her.
She liked his determination. Her father had always said to look for a man who wouldn’t give up. He was—
Wait a minute, she thought. Was she seriously considering his proposal? Was she thinking she would marry a man she barely knew simply to take his name and his money?
“I’m not like that,” she said, pulling her hand free and standing. “I’m not mercenary.”
Dev rose as well. “No one is saying you are. Noelle, if Jimmy were still alive, wouldn’t you expect him to marry you?”
She didn’t want to answer that. In this century, in this society, who really got married because of a baby? But in her heart, she knew she would have expected it. And she would have accepted, despite any misgivings about the future of their relationship.
“But you’re not Jimmy.”
“Think of me as standing in for him. Doing what he would have done.”
Would Jimmy have married her? She honestly wasn’t sure.
“It’s two years,” Dev said. “Trust me, time moves quickly. Did your parents know you were dating Jimmy?”
“What?” The change in subject startled her. “Um, they knew I was seeing someone from work, but that’s all.”
“Then for all they know, it could be me.”
She blinked at him. Of course there had been times when she’d kept the truth from her parents, or squeaked around the actual facts, but to lie like this felt wrong on too many levels. Yet she was tempted.
The baby existed and she would have to deal with that. Dev was offering her a way to minimize the damage with her family, while allowing her to be a single mother and still pursue her dreams. It was almost too good to be true.
“What do you get out of all this?” she asked.
“Jimmy’s child gets the family name. I get to be a part of his or her life.”
“You can have both of those without marrying me.”
“I want to make this right,” he told her. “I can’t take back what was done, but I can do my best to help. You don’t know me, Noelle, but you’re going to have to trust me on that.”
She wasn’t sure much trust would be required. Devlin Hunter was the kind of man to get everything in writing. Which meant there would be paperwork.
“I don’t want what Jimmy would have inherited,” she said. “That’s too much.” Dev’s company, Hunter Manufacturing was a massive, multimillion dollar business. “Maybe some child support and a house.” She winced. Even that sounded too greedy. “Just the child support,” she amended. “Jimmy would have paid that anyway.”
Dev shoved his hands into his slacks pockets and smiled at her. “You’re saying yes.”
“Oh.” She turned the idea over in her mind. “I guess I am.” When had she decided this was what she wanted to do? Did it matter? Dev was right. Accepting his proposal made her life much easier.
She still wasn’t sure what he got out of the deal. Unless it was to be part of a family again, even for a little while. But was that even important to him?
“I don’t know you at all,” she said.
“We’ll change that,” he promised. “Let’s have dinner tonight. We can work out the logistics, set up a timetable and move forward.”
That made it sound as if they were closing a business deal rather than discussing a marriage. And when she thought about it, she realized it was true.
“All right,” she agreed. “Where do you want to meet?”
“My house.” He moved around the desk and grabbed a piece of paper. After writing the address, he handed it to her. “Six-thirty?”
She took the paper and nodded. “Okay. I guess I should, uh, get back to work.”
“You’re not due in for another couple of hours.”
“I know, but I’m already here.” She walked to the door, then glanced back at him. “Thanks for everything.”
“Thank you, Noelle,” he said. “Don’t worry more than you have to. We’ll get this worked out. Everything will be fine.”
She smiled and left. Fine? She was pregnant with her late boyfriend’s child, she had just agreed to temporary marriage with a man she didn’t know, for a bunch of reasons she couldn’t remember, and she had big plans to lie about the whole thing to her family.
Fine didn’t really cover it.
Chapter Two
Noelle left work shortly before noon. She’d already put in more than her usual amount of hours and cleared out her in-basket, which felt good. She’d been efficient, determined and focused. It had been the only way to get through the hours. If she allowed herself to stop moving, she would think about what had happened that morning. She would think about being pregnant and Dev’s impossible proposal and she would lose it. Not something she wanted to do in front of all the women in the office.
So she kept a smile on her face and her mind on her work until she could escape to her car and drive home, where she knew she would find her mother. Funny how at nineteen, all she wanted was to run to her mom and be comforted. Maybe that need never went away. Yet in about eight months, she would have her own child to think about.
“Impossible,” Noelle murmured as she drove out of the Hunter Manufacturing parking lot. “The entire situation is impossible.”
How could she be pregnant? How could she consider marrying Devlin Hunter? While she couldn’t change the former, she could work the latter. She’d been crazy to accept his proposal. Taking the easy way out was never smart, she reminded herself. She’d jumped at what he’d offered because it smoothed things over, but she knew better. And that was why she was so determined to get home. Her mother always left the church office for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. They would sit down and Noelle would confess everything. Then her mother would tell her how to get out of her fake engagement with her boss.
Noelle knew that Dev would probably push back. He was that sort of man. But in time he would come to see that he could still be a part of his brother’s child’s life without going to the extreme of marrying her. While she would welcome child support, she wasn’t going to insist on it. Somehow she would get by.
“Hey, Mom,” she called as she walked in the back door of the two-story house she ’d lived in since she was a kid. The place was old and a little run-down but homey and comfortable. She moved from the laundry room into the kitchen, where she found
