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“I just want you to consider this carefully. When you’re pregnant, and your hormones are all out of whack, those emotional lines can get … fuzzy.”
“I’m not going to fall for Adam. It’s not even a remote possibility.”
She didn’t look like she believed Katy, but she let it drop.
The idea of her and Adam in a relationship was beyond ridiculous. Her mother had to know that.
Or was she seeing something that Katy wasn’t?
Five
Adam met Katy at the doctor’s office Wednesday as planned. She got there first, and as he walked into the lobby he was a bit taken aback when he saw her. In fact, until she smiled and waved, he didn’t even realize it was her. Dressed in a white-cotton peasant blouse and a caramel-colored ankle-length skirt, she looked like … a woman. She’d even traded in the her usual ponytail for soft, loose ringlets that framed her face and draped across her shoulders. Even he couldn’t deny that the effect was breathtaking.
He had always considered her attractive, but now she looked … well, frankly, she looked hot.
It was only the third time in his life that he’d seen her wear anything but jeans and boots. The first was his wedding, and the second Becca’s funeral, but neither time had he been paying attention to how she looked. Was it possible that she’d always looked this blatantly sexy and he’d just never noticed? And today, he wasn’t the only one. Heads were turning as she walked past, eyes following her with obvious appreciation. But he knew something they didn’t. He knew that as good as she looked in her clothes, she looked even better out of them.
A fact he’d been trying to forget all week.
Katy on the other hand seemed oblivious to the looks she was getting, as though she didn’t have even the slightest idea how pretty she was. Or more likely, didn’t care either way. He’d never met a woman so casual about her self-image. As evidenced, he realized with a tug of humor, by the fact that under the skirt she was wearing cowboy boots.
He could take the woman out of the country, but not the country out of the woman.
“You’re early,” he said as she approached him.
“I know, I didn’t want to risk being late,” she told him, then added, as if she thought he wouldn’t notice on his own, “I wore my girl clothes.”
“So you did.”
“I’m really nervous.”
“I’m sure everything will be fine.” He looked at his watch and said, “We should probably get upstairs.”
Though he had resigned himself to the idea of her being the surrogate and had for the most part convinced himself it was for the best, deep down he half hoped the doctor would find some reason to deem her an inappropriate candidate for the procedure. But after a thorough examination, Katy was given a clean bill of health. And like her own physician, Dr. Meyer even went so far as to comment that her body was ideal for childbearing. So there was definitely no turning back now.
It was a done deal.
After a consultation with the doctor in his office, where he explained the procedure in great detail, they made an appointment for the following week to have two embryos implanted.
“Are you nervous?” Katy asked him as they walked back down to the lobby together.
He shrugged.
“Oh, come on, you have to be at least a little nervous.”
“I guess.” After waiting so long for this, the process did seem to be moving very quickly. “How about you? Are you having second thoughts?”
“Not at all. I’m just really excited. I can hardly believe it’s next week. I thought it would take months.”
“It won’t be a problem, you leaving the ranch for a couple of days?”
“They can get by without me. But I was thinking, because I’ll be on bed rest for twenty-four hours after the transfer, maybe you could recommend a hotel.”
Did she honestly think he would let her stay alone in a hotel? Not only would that be rude and insensitive of him, he wanted her close by, so he could keep an eye on her and make sure she followed the doctor’s orders to the letter. They had three shots at this. He didn’t want anything going wrong.
“Nonsense,” he told her. “You’ll stay with me.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose.”
They pushed out the door into the blazing afternoon heat where his car sat at the curb already waiting for him. “Of course I’m sure.”
“In that case, thanks. It’s been years since I’ve been to your house.”
Three years to be exact. The day of Becca’s funeral.
They stopped on the sidewalk near the limo. He really should get back to work, but she’d driven all this way and the least he could do was feed her.
“Why don’t I buy you lunch?”
“I really need to get going,” she said apologetically.
“I’ll probably just swing into the drive-through on my way home.”
She would decline his invitation for something as unpalatable as fast food? Not to mention unhealthy. “Are you sure? There’s a café just around the corner.”
“I promised my folks I would make a few stops for them on the way home, and I don’t want to get back too late. Can I take a rain check?”
“Of course,” he said, though her casual refusal puzzled him. When it came to women, he was usually the one declining offers. And lately there had been plenty of them, no thanks to one of his coworkers who thought Adam had done enough grieving and needed to get back into circulation.
Not that Adam considered Katy a woman. In the relationship sense, that is. In his eyes she was a business associate. One who was looking at him curiously.
“What?”
“If it means that much to you, we can go,” she said.
“Go?”
“To lunch. You looked … I don’t know … disappointed.”
Had he? “No, of course not.”
“You’re sure? Because I can make the time.”
“Of course I’m sure.”
She didn’t look as though she believed him. “I know this has to be tough for you. I mean, as much as you want a child, they’re Becca’s eggs. It must stir up a lot of feelings.” She took a step toward him, reached out and put a hand on his arm. Why did she have to do that? Be so … physical? “If you need someone to talk to—”
“I don’t,” he assured her, his gaze straying to her cleavage. Probably because there was so much of it, and she was standing so close that it was right there, inches from his face. Okay, more than inches, but still.
“Hello!” she said, snapping her fingers in front of his eyes, until he lifted them to hers. “I’m trying to be nice, and all you can do is stare at my boobs? And people wonder why I dress the way I do.”
She was right. That was totally inappropriate. He was acting like he’d never seen breasts before. When not only had he seen breasts, he’d seen hers.
“I apologize,” he said, keeping his eyes on her face. “And no, I don’t need to talk.”
“I just figured you asked me to lunch for a reason.”
“I did. I thought you might be hungry.”
She sighed heavily. “Okay. But I’m here if you change your mind. Just call me.”
“I won’t.”
“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to lighten up a little. You’re so serious all the time. That can’t be healthy.”
“You’ve never seen me at work. I’m a party animal.”
She rolled her eyes. “Sure you are.”
“So I’ll see you next week?” he asked, anxious to end this nightmare of a conversation. She seemed to have an annoying way of getting under his skin.
“See you next week.”
She turned and sashayed to her truck, hips swaying, curls bouncing. Anyone looking at her would know, just from the way she walked, that she had attitude.
And suddenly he was picturing her naked again. Wondering what she would have done if he’d stepped into her room, if he had reached for her …
“Sir?” Reece said, and Adam realized he was standing there holding the door open, and he’d heard their entire exchange. “She’s something, huh?”
She was something all right. He just hadn’t quite figured out what.
“She’s really quite beautiful, isn’t she?”
“I guess.”
Reece didn’t say a word, but his expression said he knew his boss was full of it. That any red-blooded heterosexual male would have to be blind not to think she was totally hot. But the last thing Adam needed was for his driver to think he had a thing for his surrogate. Not that he didn’t trust Reece implicitly, but there were certain lines a man did not cross, even hypothetically.
This was definitely one of them.
Katy assumed the week would crawl by, but before she knew it, she was on her way back to El Paso. Adam had called a few days earlier, suggesting she come to stay the night before, so she wouldn’t have to make the two-hour drive before the appointment, but she told him no. As nervous and excited as she knew she would be, sleeping would be tough enough without being in an unfamiliar room, in a strange bed. And for some reason, the thought of sleeping in the same house with Adam made her nervous. Not that she thought he would try something. It just felt … weird. But tonight she didn’t have a choice. She physically couldn’t drive home.
Her mother had offered to drive her to El Paso and stay for the procedure, then drive her directly back. She wasn’t too keen on Katy staying at Adam’s place, either. But the doctor said bed rest, and she couldn’t exactly sack out in the truck bed for the two-hour drive.
Adam still lived in the sprawling, six-bedroom, seven-bath, eight-thousand-square-foot monstrosity Becca had insisted they needed. They could have had a whole brood of children and still had space to spare. And though she loved her sister dearly, and was sure that she had been a very accomplished interior designer, her personal tastes were excessive to say the least, and bordering on gaudy. She didn’t seem to understand the concept of less is more.
Katy pulled up the circle drive and parked by the front door, next to the concrete, cherub-adorned fountain, realizing how utterly out of place her truck looked there.
She grabbed her duffel from the front seat, climbed out and walked to the front entrance, but before she could ring the bell the door swung open. Standing there was Adam’s housekeeper, whom Katy vaguely remembered from the day of Becca’s funeral, an older woman with a gently lined and kind face.
Though Adam seemed the type to insist his staff wear a formal uniform, she was dressed in jeans and a Texas A & M sweatshirt.
She smiled warmly. “Ms. Huntley, so nice to see you again! I’m Celia.”
Katy liked her immediately.
“Hi, Celia.”
“Come in, come in!” She ushered Katy inside, taking the bag before she could protest. The air was filled with the scent of something warm and sweet. “Can you believe how hot it is and it’s barely 10:00 a.m.? Why don’t I show you to your room, then I’ll get you something cold to drink. Are you hungry? I could fix you breakfast.”
“I’m fine, thanks.” She’d been too nervous to force down more than a slice of toast and a glass of juice before she left home. “Is Adam here?”
“He went into the office for a few hours. He’s sending a car for you at ten-thirty.”
She’d been under the impression they would ride to the appointment together, but she should have known he would squeeze in a few hours at the office first. Hadn’t that always been Becca’s biggest complaint? That Adam worked too much. Which begged the question, when would he have time to take care of a baby? But it was a little late to worry about that now.
Celia led Katy across the foyer and either Katy had a skewed recollection of the interior, or Adam had made changes to the decor because it wasn’t nearly as distasteful as she remembered. Considering she had only been here twice before, it was difficult to be sure. In any case, it was very warm and inviting now.
They walked up to the second floor and Celia showed her to one of the spare bedrooms. If Katy was remembering right, the master was at the end of the hall not twenty feet away. She didn’t like that Adam would be in such close proximity, but what could she do, ask to sack out on the living-room couch? At least Celia would be there to act as a buffer.
Besides, she was being silly. She was only staying there because it was convenient. And because, she suspected, Adam didn’t completely trust her to follow the doctor’s instructions, if left to her own devices. She had to admit that being flat on her back for twenty-four hours sounded like the worst kind of torture. She was not an idle person. She didn’t have the patience to sit around doing nothing. But this time she didn’t have a choice.
“This is nice,” Katy said, looking around as Celia set her bag down on the floral duvet. The room was tastefully decorated in creamy pastels. Feminine and inviting without being too frilly.
“There are fresh towels in the bathroom. And if you need anything, anything at all while you’re here, don’t hesitate to ask. I think it’s a very generous thing you’re doing for Adam. Since he decided to do this, it’s the happiest I’ve seen him since he lost Becca. He would deny it if you asked, but the last few years have been very hard on him. I was starting to believe he would never get over her.”
If he loved her that much, why did Becca have to work so hard to keep him happy? she wanted to ask. Why was she always terrified that he would grow bored and leave her for someone else? Maybe Celia wasn’t seeing the whole picture, or hadn’t known Adam long enough to realize what he was really like.
Katy sat on the edge of the bed. “How long have you worked for Adam?”
“Ever since his father passed. But I’ve known him most of his life. I practically raised him. When he wasn’t off at boarding school, that is.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you’d been with the family that long.”
“Going on thirty-two years now. Since Mrs. Blair, Adam’s mother, took ill. I lost my own boy in the Gulf War, so Adam has been like a son to me.”
“I’m so sorry,” Katy said. Losing a child was a sorrow her parents knew all too well.
“I still consider myself blessed. I have two beautiful daughters and five grandchildren between them.”
“What do you think of Adam having a child? If you don’t mind my asking.”
Celia sat down beside her. “I think Adam will be a wonderful father. He lets my grandchildren come over and use the pool, and he’s so good with them. He’s wanted this for a very long time.”
Celia was probably biased, but Katy wanted desperately to believe her. Although, wanting a child, and being good with someone else’s grandchildren, didn’t necessarily make someone a good parent.
“When you get to know him better, you’ll see,” Celia assured her.
“But how am I supposed to get to know him when he’s so closed off. So uptight.”
