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Chapter One
Six months later
On a chilly, bright March day, Alex sat in his attorney’s office, waiting for Dena Randolph. She was late—as usual. If Tamara hadn’t selected her half sister as their surrogate mother, Alex would have found someone more punctual.
Alex sipped stale coffee and tried to squelch his irritation. Had Dena shown up on time, the meeting would have concluded during his lunch hour. More than anything else, Alex wanted to go back to his office, bury himself in his work and forget how much he still missed Tamara.
Attorney Gary Kagan passed a sheaf of papers across his desk to Alex. “You can review the contract while we wait for Ms. Randolph.”
Alex skimmed the closely typed pages. He’d wanted a contract so Dena would understand her place in the scheme of things. Dena, interfering and bossy, had off-beat ideas about child-rearing.
And her kids…Alex grimaced. He loved his niece and nephew, but the four-year-olds always seemed to be sticky, dirty, lost or in trouble. They were hardly poster children for Dena’s parenting style.
Alex flipped through the pages. He saw everything he’d requested: the clauses stating what Dena had to do during the pregnancy, and what she couldn’t do after the baby was born—namely, have unsupervised contact with his child or control over it. Gary had taken several months to draft what looked like a complex document.
“What happens if she doesn’t sign it?” Alex asked.
Gary shrugged. “Both of you own the embryos, see? If she doesn’t sign it, you don’t cooperate. If you don’t cooperate, no baby, and Tamara’s dream dies right here.”
Alex frowned. “That’s rather blunt.”
“That’s life. Let me tell you—”
A loud pop interrupted Gary.
Alex’s body involuntarily jerked. “Hey, are there gangbangers around here?” he asked his attorney.
“Only at night.”
The chug of an overtaxed engine vibrated through the window. Alex cautiously scrambled over to the glass, then peeked through the pane.
Peering past a clipped hedge, he could see a battered yellow pickup, with fanciful vines and flowers painted on it in vivid rainbow colors. Dena’s Gardens was stenciled in purple on the door. Dena’s pickup backfired again as she reversed into a nearby parking space. Black smoke billowed from the muffler. Alex wondered if the pickup complied with California’s strict antismog laws. Probably not, knowing Dena.
He raised his brows. “Guess who.”
Gary joined Alex at the window. “She really ought to replace that old clunker pretty soon.”
“She’d better. I won’t have the mother of my child riding around in that piece of junk. It looks dangerous.”
The door of the truck squealed as Dena opened it. Hinges need oil or something, Alex thought. He kept some in the trunk of his car. He’d take care of that squeak before she left.
Alex watched Dena climb down from the cab of the truck. Her faded jeans had dirt ground into the knees. She wore heavy work boots. He winced.
Dena strode toward the building that housed the office of Alex’s attorney. The grind and clatter of her work boots on the pavement echoed her tripping heart.
She’d have this baby for her sister’s sake, but she wanted to avoid involvement with Alex Chandler. Unfortunately, the two goals were incompatible, thrusting her into a messy situation for at least nine months. More, actually, since after the baby’s birth, she couldn’t evade responsibility for the child and didn’t plan to try. She’d become an auntie, and in her mind, that implied a bond of love and trust that would tie everyone together…including Alex.
Dena sighed inwardly and wondered, for the umpteenth time, why her clever, talented sister had married Alex. Sure, he was good-looking, if you liked the icy, Nordic type. But Tamara, who’d been more beautiful than any Miss America, could have chosen anyone in the world for her mate.
Why Alex, the chilly Chandler? Lately he’d become even more remote, responding to phone calls curtly, if at all. Certain that he suffered over Tamara’s passing, Dena hadn’t pushed him out of his protective shell.
Dena yanked open the glass door of the brick-fronted building a little too hard. It whacked against a wall, but she ignored the bang in favor of her roiling thoughts.
What kind of a parent would Alex be? Unnerved, Dena stopped short in the middle of the carpeted lobby. She didn’t want her baby niece or nephew growing up into a Popsicle person like Alex.
She better make sure this kid had all the love every child deserved.
Dena straightened her shoulders, firmed her resolve and marched into Gary Kagan’s office. She forced a smile onto her face to disguise the determination in her heart.
When Dena entered, Alex, already irritated due to her lateness, couldn’t behave cordially to her no matter how hard he tried. Her messy red mop, carelessly pinned at the top of her head in a knot, had started to fall down. Tendrils of her hair framed her face in a manner Alex knew some men might find sexy, sensual. But not Alex. Dena Randolph wasn’t his type. She’d never be his type. Ever.
“Alex, Mr. Kagan,” she greeted them, sounding a little breathless.
“Gary, please.” His attorney puffed out his thin chest.
She gave him a dazzling, Rita Hayworth smile. “Gary.”
Was it Alex’s imagination, or did she add a sultry slur to the name? He hoped not. The mother of his child would have no business running around with other men. Alex expected Dena to live a quiet, safe life while she carried his baby.
He cleared his throat. “Good afternoon, Dena.”
“Hiya.” She plopped into a plush green chair in front of Gary’s desk and picked up the contract. “So, is this the dastardly document?”
Gary laughed, and Dena winked at him. Alex didn’t like her come-hither look. Hopefully his child wouldn’t flirt. If the baby was a girl, he’d keep her at home until she was thirty.
“I hope you don’t find it dastardly.” Gary resumed his seat behind the desk.
“So it’s an amiable agreement instead.” She grinned.
“We think it’s quite reasonable.” Alex sat in a chair next to hers, then immediately regretted his action. She didn’t smell like a person who’d labored that morning, but like a woman. A very sensual woman, with a fresh, flowery scent.
He sat back in his chair, hoping to escape her fragrant aura. He didn’t want to enjoy Dena’s aroma, her aura, or her anything. She was his wife’s sister. Her half sister, but still…Dena? Attractive? No. Never.
Raising an eyebrow, she flipped through the pages. She didn’t appear to read it at all. “Is this the usual kind of contract for this situation?”
“There
