LITMIR.BIZ

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of Wonderland. When she’d gotten up yesterday morning, she’d had no idea that in a little over twenty-four hours, her life would take such an unexpected turn. Nor would she have ever thought the man she’d dreamed about for the past five years would get some wild notion that he needed an heir and that she was the only woman to make that happen.

      Slowly returning to the couch, she plopped down and let her gaze wander aimlessly around the room. How could everything look the same when the whole world had been turned completely upside down?

      As the gravity of Luke’s request began to sink in, she shook her head. There was no way on God’s green earth that she could help him with his cockamamy plan. She couldn’t—wouldn’t—do that to a child. To her child.

      Her child.

      She was pretty sure that, as her father’s housekeeper used to say whenever someone expressed a desire to procreate, she had “baby fever.” Not because she didn’t have plenty of time to have a child. She did.

      At twenty-eight years old, she certainly hadn’t heard the ominous ticking of her biological clock. Nor did she anticipate that happening for quite some time.

      She had, however, watched several of her friends find love, get married and have babies. In fact, just last week Haley had received an announcement from her college roommate about the birth of her second child. And that seemed to intensify the void, her desire that she wanted more than anything else in life—a family of her own.

      Just the idea of holding her own baby, of watching him or her take the first steps, of hearing the first words and seeing a sweet toothless grin brought tears to her eyes. She wanted a baby to love and be loved by in return.

      But that wasn’t what Luke had in mind. He wanted an heir to carry on at Garnier Construction, not a close family who loved, laughed and together weathered whatever storms life sent their way. And she was old-fashioned enough to believe that the choice to conceive should be based on the desire to love and nurture, not a good business decision. If she went along with his ludicrous plan, he’d raise their child alone and she’d be completely out of the picture. She’d lived that type of existence and she couldn’t do that to a child, couldn’t bring an innocent baby into a childhood like hers. Although the circumstances weren’t exactly the same, she knew all too well how it felt to have a workaholic father who always put business first, who relied on nannies and his housekeeper to raise his motherless daughter.

      Nor could she do that to herself. Unlike her own mother who abandoned her shortly after birth, nothing would ever keep Haley from being part of her child’s life. She had every intention of being there each day to love and guide him or her as they made the journey to a happy, productive adulthood.

      Unfortunately, Luke Garnier was a formidable negotiator. She knew as sure as she knew her own name that he would not stop until she agreed to his crazy scheme.

      Luckily for her, she knew him well enough to know exactly how to deter him from his mission. But in doing so, it meant effectively ending any romantic fantasies of being more than his glorified secretary. Her chest tightened with intense emotion. It saddened her deeply, but she couldn’t see any other option.

      Taking a fortifying breath, she rose to her feet and walked into the spare bedroom she’d turned into her home office. As she seated herself at the desk, she took a tablet and pen from the drawer and began compiling her list of conditions. Demands that she was certain Luke would find to be deal-breakers and send him running away from her as fast and far as he could possibly get.

      The feel of Luke’s hand at the small of her back as the hostess led them to their table sent an interesting little shiver straight up Haley’s spine and she focused all her attention on walking it to the table in her three-inch high heels without breaking her neck. Instead of dressing for style, she should have worn a more sensible—and a lot more comfortable—pair of shoes.

      But her decision to wear the ridiculous shoes had been a psychological crutch of sorts. Luke was well over six feet tall and she’d wanted to feel as if she were more on his level. The only problem was, he still towered over her by at least eight inches. So much for trying to psych herself up for their dinner meeting, she thought as they reached the table. All she’d succeeded in doing was to increase the chance of a broken ankle.

      When Luke held her chair for her, she noticed that the table was strategically located in a dimly lit corner of the upscale restaurant and gave them a maximum amount of privacy. Knowing Luke, he’d specifically requested it when he made the reservation so they could talk freely without anyone eavesdropping.

      “Hello, my name is Martin and I’ll be your server for the evening,” a young man said as Luke took his seat across from her. “Would you like to see our wine list, Mr. Garnier?”

      “That won’t be necessary, Martin,” Luke answered. He gave her a smile that curled her toes inside her ridiculous shoes as he requested an extremely expensive label and vintage of wine, then added, “We’ll both be having the house salad with house dressing. And for the main course we’ll have prime rib, baby carrots and asparagus.”

      Martin nodded. “Good choice, sir. I’ll be back in a few moments with your wine.”

      Haley wasn’t at all surprised that Luke had ordered their dinner without consulting her or the menu. That was the type of man he was—a take charge kind of guy, who expected everyone to go along with whatever choices he saw fit to make.

      “Did you enjoy your day off?” he asked conversationally, once the young waiter had placed their wine glasses in front of them, then silently moved away. “Were you able to give a significant amount of thought to my request?”

      Leave it to him to bypass her need to respond to the small talk and get right to the sole reason they were having dinner together.

      “I haven’t been able to think of anything else since you left my apartment yesterday afternoon,” she said truthfully. “You really gave me a lot to think about.”

      “Have you reached a decision?”

      She stared at his handsome face as she mentally readied herself to recite the list of demands she’d spent the day memorizing and knew would have him rescinding his proposition in less than a heartbeat. But being prepared for what she had to say didn’t make saying it any easier.

      “Yesterday, when you asked me to consider doing this for you, I don’t recall you mentioning anything that would give me an incentive to help you,” she clarified, choosing her words carefully. “What would I get out of this besides gaining a significant amount of weight and a few stretch marks?”

      “After I left your place, I gave that some thought,” he agreed, nodding. “And there’s no question that I would take care of all medical expenses, as well as give you as much time off from work as you’d like. With pay, of course.”

      He made it sound so simple. Had he even considered the permanent changes her body would undergo or the possible risks if the pregnancy was problematic? And what about the emotional devastation she would endure when it came time to give him custody of her child?

      “That isn’t nearly enough,” she declared, flatly. “I want more.” She shook her head. “No. That’s not correct. I want a lot more.”

      His eyes narrowed and she could tell that he hadn’t anticipated her rejection. “What exactly is it you want, Haley?” he finally asked.

      “I’m sure it’s a lot more than you’re willing to give,” she stated, taking a sip of wine.

      “Name your price and we’ll see.” There was a challenge in his voice, indicating that he was about to go into serious negotiation mode.

      “I never said I wanted money,” she offered, staring at him over the rim of her glass.

      He cocked one dark eyebrow. “Then what do you want?”

      Haley slowly placed her wine goblet on the table and took a deep breath. She was about to reveal the hopes and dreams she’d had since childhood to the man she quite possibly

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