The Paternity Pact Read online

  While the evening hadn’t exactly gone according to plan, the next two days and nights had been more amazing than she could’ve dreamed possible. Surrendering herself to Grant’s masterful tutelage, she learned just how much pleasure her body could bear and by the end of their passionate weekend, she’d been forever changed.

  Harley stood frozen in place while her body lit up with longing, anxiety, hope and despair. The emotions swarmed her like a cloud of hungry mosquitos. Her ears buzzed, drowning out the conversations around her. What should she do? Cross the crowded room and say hello or send him a come-hither sign and wait for him to approach her? The last time, she’d put herself in his path after which he’d pursued her with a vengeance, giving chase in a way that set her heart to pounding and awakened something hot and primitive inside her.

  Before Harley decided how to proceed, Grant turned away and walked in the opposite direction. Flooded by keen disappointment, she scolded herself. Did she seriously expect that he’d see her across a crowded room and be irresistibly drawn to her side? A man like Grant wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.

  “You okay?” Jaymes Owens asked, her blue eyes registering concern as she peered at Harley from beneath long, thick eyelashes.

  As she blinked herself free of her memories, Harley realized that Grant was no longer in her line of sight. Had she imagined that he’d recognized her? They’d spent a single weekend together. Sure, the sex had been incredible, the sort of seismic-shifting passion that set impossible standards for every encounter since, but she’d often worried her own performance had left little impression.

  “Sure,” she responded after her best friend nudged her arm. “Why?”

  “Because you tensed up just now. Did your mother decide to put in an appearance?”

  Harley shuddered. “Hardly.”

  “You never know, she might show up.”

  “I really hope she doesn’t.” She shrugged at the disgusted look Jaymes shot her. “This event tonight is a big deal for Zest. I don’t need her dumping truckloads of criticism and unwanted advice on me.”

  “She only wants what’s best for you.”

  “More like what she thinks is best.” Harley blinked against a sudden prickle of tears. “I don’t know why I thought that I could come back after five years and things would be different. I’m not the same person who left Royal, but everyone still treats me like the entitled eighteen-year-old I was. And worse is the way I fall back into old patterns of acting like a spoiled brat who expects to be treated like an equal. Part of me wishes I’d just stayed away.” Harley pushed the air out of her lungs in a dramatic sigh. “And that’s exactly the sort of immature attitude I want to overcome.”

  The baby of the family, she’d grown up pampered and spoiled by her father and siblings. Anything she wanted, she wheedled and pouted until she got her way. Her father’s stroke just after her eighteenth birthday changed everything. With Trent Wingate incapacitated, their mother became the dominant parent and Harley’s world became a whole lot less fun.

  Jaymes put her arm around Harley’s shoulders in a comforting hug. “You’ve only been in town a short while. Give yourself a little time to catch your breath before you start beating yourself up.”

  “You’re right.” She straightened her spine and pushed away her melancholy.

  “So, if it wasn’t your mother, who showed up that you didn’t expect?”

  For a second, Harley considered downplaying her reaction, but she’d never kept things from her best friend. Why start now?

  “I saw Grant.”

  “Really?” Jaymes blurted, eyes widening “Are you sure?”

  “Very.” The other woman’s acute surprise caused Harley’s heart to bang vigorously in her chest. “Is that unusual?”

  “Very,” echoed Jaymes, growing reflective. “You know, he doesn’t show up at events like these. I bet he came because he knew you’d be here.”

  “I can’t imagine how.” Harley tried to deny her escalating excitement, but the notion that Grant might have come tonight in order to see her made her giddy. “It’s not like he’d know Zest was my nonprofit.”

  “I’ll bet he does.”

  The disparaging sound Harley made didn’t change her friend’s optimistic expression. “I’m sure he hasn’t thought of me once in the last five years.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  Jaymes had been there with sympathy and advice when Harley returned from her weekend with Grant, humiliated and incensed after he’d freaked out upon learning her age. Confident that Jaymes would always have her back, Harley had spilled everything to her best friend about the encounter. The two girls were very different in how they approached life. Jaymes was a rock who led with her head; Harley a swiftly moving current, mercurial and prone to impulsive actions. Like disappearing overseas when she realized she was pregnant by a man she desired and who’d made it clear he wouldn’t ever consider a relationship with her.

  Harley shook her head. “I’m sure I was barely a blip on his radar.” Something that couldn’t be said by her. Their encounter had left a lasting impression on her life. Especially in one very critical area.

  “I’ll admit that I don’t know him all that well,” Jaymes said, “but everything I’ve heard about him indicates that he’s always been a workaholic and hasn’t been romantically linked to anyone except his ex-wife. I’m quite sure that what happened between you two was an anomaly for him.”

  “Meaning?” Harley hated the way her heart jumped for joy at her friend’s comment.

  “That the weekend probably stands out in his mind.”

  “As something he’d never do again,” she insisted, her buoyant mood dipping as she recalled how he’d started dating Paisley Barnes a few short weeks after the Texas Cattleman’s Club ball.

  No doubt he’d deemed the stunning blonde far more suitable in both age and experience than Harley had been at the time. He’d been so utterly appalled to learn at the end of their weekend together that she’d recently graduated from high school and railed at her in outrage that she’d intentionally misled him about everything. She’d been humiliated at being chastised like a naughty child, and refused to acknowledge the flaw in portraying herself as something she wasn’t.

  Harley sighed at the unpleasant memory and cringed at the way she’d stormed off like the overindulged brat she’d once been. When she’d made the decision to put Royal, Texas, in her rearview mirror, she hadn’t intended to be gone for so long. However, she’d discovered that being out from beneath her siblings’ shadows gave her a newfound sense of her strengths and a better understanding of her weaknesses. Worried that coming back to Royal would cause her to regress, she’d stayed away.

  Eventually, however, she’d decided the best way to demonstrate that she’d matured was to face her fears. Even so, seeing Grant tonight filled her with dread. Despite how motherhood had forced her to grow up fast in the half decade since their last encounter, it hadn’t changed the thirteen-year age gap between them. Was it foolish to hope that he’d give her credit for what she’d gleaned while living abroad? After all, she’d started a successful nonprofit and learned to not only take care of herself and her son, but also hundreds of women who relied on Zest to lift them out of the ravages of extreme poverty.

  Pride flared, momentarily banishing her angst. When she’d originally conceived her nonprofit, she hadn’t given much thought to how it might flourish and grow. She’d just recognized that people didn’t want a handout. They wanted a hand up. Teaching a marketable skill and creating a pipeline for selling the goods created pathways that enabled these women to improve their lives. Harley’s spark of an idea blew up into a giant blaze. But the issue of poverty was so enormous. The vast numbers of marginalized women in need of help so extensive. Thus, Zest was poised to grow beyond her ability to fund it. Especially now that her family’s present business woes had
reduced the Wingate corporate donations she used to keep Zest afloat from a wide river to a dry creek bed.

  “Harley?” Jaymes had to prod Harley back to the present.

  “Sorry.” She grimaced at her friend’s obvious concern. “I was thinking about Zest.”

  “We were talking about Grant.”

  “I know, but of all the problems I have at the moment, Zest’s are the least likely to freak me out.” Harley leaned into Jaymes and wrapped her arm around the other woman’s waist. “You’ve been so remarkable all these years. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you. If not for your emotional support and all your amazing connections for Zest, I would be lost.”

  “I don’t think that’s true,” Jaymes said with a fond chuckle. “But you’re welcome.”

  “And for letting me stay with you until I can find a place to rent for the next few months.”

  “Are you kidding? Sean and I love having you and Daniel around.”

  Jaymes had moved in with Sean Cavanaugh the year before after nearly two years of dating. The couple were devoted to each other, but seemed happy with the slow progress of their relationship.

  “It’s wonderful how great Sean is with Daniel.”

  “And vice versa,” Jaymes put in. “Makes you realize that your boy needs a man in his life.”

  “It does,” Harley agreed, guilt stabbing at her. “I know now that I was wrong to think I was all the parent he needed.”

  This statement encapsulated her motivation for returning to Royal, instead of a big city like Dallas, when her funding dried up for Zest. She hadn’t realized the impact not having a father was having on Daniel until the mother of one of his friends shared that he had been telling wild stories about his father and all the incredible things the man was doing that kept him away. Harley’s heart had broken as she’d learned how her son’s imagination was working overtime to compensate for the absence of such a vital person. It was then that she’d decided to do whatever it took to fix her blunder.

  “You’re a great mom,” Jaymes hastened to say. “I’m just glad you realize that he should get to know his father, as well.”

  Ever since learning she was pregnant, she’d grappled with telling Grant that he had a son. At first, she’d been freshly wounded by his rejection once he found out she was eighteen. She’d proved her immaturity by running away from her father’s debilitating illness and her mother’s harshness. Months later, alone in a foreign country where she didn’t speak the language and weak from morning sickness, she’d decided maybe Grant had been right to chastise her for being rash and selfish. Unfortunately for her, by the time she’d dredged up the courage to tell him about Daniel, Grant had been engaged to Paisley and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin his life.

  “I know I should’ve done it before this, but nothing about coming back here has been easy.” On the endless international flight, she’d been paralyzed with anxiety over the best way to tell not just Grant that Daniel was his son but also confess the truth to her family. “And because I’ve kept Daniel from him all this time, explaining why I’ve waited so long is that much harder.” Her stomach knotted. “What if Grant rejects him?” Like he did me?

  Jaymes tightened her grip. “He won’t. He’s dedicated his career to building families. Why wouldn’t he be thrilled to be a dad?”

  Harley refrained from voicing the dozen or so answers that popped into her head.

  “I’m just afraid that he’s going to be angry that I waited too long to tell him.” A lump lodged itself in Harley’s throat while the anxious fluttering in her chest disrupted her breath. “What if he spurns Daniel because I kept the truth hidden all this time?”

  “He won’t.”

  As much as Harley trusted her friend’s opinion, she couldn’t shake her fears. Five years ago, Grant hadn’t shown her any mercy after discovering that she’d deceived him about her age and his dismissal had been icy and ruthless. It had been one thing that Grant hadn’t wanted her, but what if he didn’t want his son, either? Recalling the conversation she’d had with Daniel after learning about the stories he’d made up, Harley’s heart ached anew for her sweet son. He deserved a father who loved him and gave him a reason to be proud.

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Two

  With the fundraiser in full swing, Grant decided it was time to slip out and head home. Putting in an appearance had been a mistake. Too many people had remarked on his attendance. Although few had asked his reason for showing up at this particular event, their curiosity hammered at him. It reminded him of those dreams people had where they found themselves naked in a public place with no idea how they’d gotten there and nowhere to run and hide.

  Well, Grant knew exactly how he’d arrived at the party. The thought of seeing Harley Wingate again after five long years had been a lure he couldn’t resist. That he’d seen her and continued to linger demonstrated that maybe he was hoping for something more. He grunted in dissatisfaction as the pull of unfinished business between them kept him from leaving.

  Maybe if he apologized, she’d stop haunting him. As angry as he’d been with her in the moment, in the days that followed, he’d cooled off and decided he’d been more harsh than necessary. Yet, he’d stopped himself from reaching out, deciding that his attraction to her hadn’t been burned out by her trickery or his irritation with it. And then one day she was gone and he’d missed the chance to take back his blunt words.

  “Grant?” At the same time a low female voice spoke his name, he felt the lightest of pressure on his left sleeve. His pulse quickened to a frantic pace before he turned toward the source.

  Harley Wingate stood beside him, her mesmerizing green eyes locking with his as she studied him. Her lips curved into an enigmatic smile as her hand fell away. Although he’d braced himself to run into her tonight, his brain short-circuited at the shock of her sudden nearness. His gaze swept over her. She bore his scrutiny with patience, displaying abundant poise while his nerves hissed and crackled.

  “Hello, Harley.”

  “Wow. You do recognize me.” The breathy chuckle she released betrayed that she wasn’t as calm as she appeared. “I wasn’t sure you would.”

  Was she crazy? Did she not understand how memorable their weekend together had been? For months after she’d left town, he’d replayed their time together and regretted that he’d had to push her away.

  “You know perfectly well that I recognize you.” The cacophony in his chest resettled into more languid rhythms as the initial surprise of their reunion faded.

  “Do I?” She cocked her head. “It has been five years.”

  Five long years.

  As the silence stretched between them, Grant noticed her smile growing strained and realized that she’d merely been utilizing a conversational ploy to cope with her nervousness and to jumpstart their verbal interaction. Rose had often accused him of lacking the skill to understand the emotional complexities other people were experiencing. He knew that his patients felt anxious and frustrated about their inability to grow their family without assistance and were afraid of the emotional and financial toll the fertility process might take on them. Those signals were easy to read. However, what Harley was broadcasting left him mired in confusion.

  “You haven’t changed that much,” he murmured.

  “At least you’ve noticed I’ve changed,” she replied, her smile taking on a wry cast. “I’m not that silly girl of eighteen you once knew.”

  Maybe not, but he was still thirteen years her senior. “Of course not.”

  “It was really nice of you to come tonight,” she said.

  “I donated a case of wine for the tasting.” He had no idea why he kept using this as an excuse. “And a 2016 Château Margaux Bordeaux for the silent auction.”

  Did she recognize the lameness of his explanation the way Rose had? Grant hated social situa
tions that required small talk, preferring direct conversation on topics of substance. Discussing fertility options with his patients, for example, was familiar ground and not likely to raise his blood pressure. But pretending that this run-in with his ex-lover wasn’t causing his heart to pound complicated his ability to keep the exchange flowing in a casual manner.

  If Harley noticed his discomfort, she gave no sign. “The women of Zest appreciate your generosity,” she stated with an appreciative smile.

  “Was the fundraiser successful?” he asked, utilizing the safe topic to extend his time in her presence. Less than a minute in her company and he could already feel the pull of attraction wrenching him off balance.

  “It’s still early, but Beth thinks we have the potential of making our goal,” Harley said, referring to her older sister who was well-known around Royal for her event planning and charitable activities. “Which is very exciting.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  The scent clinging to her fair skin was different from the one that haunted his dreams. All those years ago, she’d worn a sophisticated perfume that when combined with her complex updo, heavy makeup and sexy gown had enabled her to appear ten years older. These days, she’d obviously stopped pretending to be more mature than her age and her light floral fragrance suited her natural, youthful charm. To Grant’s surprise, her fresh face and uncomplicated hairstyle appealed to him more than her elaborate appearance during their fateful first encounter. The confidence she exuded in the simple flowered sundress that she and several others were modeling had him wanting to steal her away to somewhere private and listen to her stories surrounding her time abroad. That he was already thinking in terms of being alone with Harley warned Grant that he was heading down a dangerous path.