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“I didn’t want to know. It was just easier if I didn’t. Look, he’s waiting for me, and he’s not in the most patient of moods right now.”
“He can wait one more minute. Come here.” Molly swiveled her computer screen around as Ally sat in the chair across from her. “You need to see this.”
Chris on a sailboat, grinning at the camera. Her heart did a quick double beat as that was the Chris she remembered—not the very angry man waiting for her outside. “And?”
Molly sighed deeply. “Listen carefully. Ever heard of the OWD Shipyard outside Charleston? The W stands for Wells. OWD is the primary sponsor of Wells Racing, and the owner’s grandson, Chris, captains their boats. Team Wells has won every major race in the last five years—including the America’s Cup. They’re considered unbeatable. My God, Ally, you certainly know how to pick them. Chris Wells is the Tiger Woods of sailing.”
Slowly, Molly’s words started to sink in, and the information on the screen in front of her corroborated her story. “How do you know this?”
Molly waved a hand dismissively. “Back when I was dating Ray, he was really into ships and racing. It was all he talked about.”
“Yachts.” She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Chris was a celebrity. And the heir to the OWD Shipyard to boot.
Molly looked at her blankly.
“Those are yachts, not ships.” He’d lied to her. Said he raced some and occasionally won. Yeah, right. He was the freakin’ god of the sailing world and he’d led her to believe…Well, he hadn’t really led her anywhere, but he certainly hadn’t been totally honest, either. Chris wasn’t the only one angry now.
Not caring much anymore that Chris was waiting for her, she continued to click through the links, and each Web page brought a new emotion. She welcomed them. By the time she heard the chimes over the door, announcing that he’d gotten impatient and had come to get her, she no longer felt quite so shaky or defensive.
“Are you ready yet, Ally?” Anger still radiated from him, but she no longer cared how mad he was.
Molly, bless her heart, tried to defuse the situation. Extending her hand to Chris, she introduced herself. “We didn’t meet properly earlier. I’m Molly, Ally’s business partner.”
Chris nodded, but his eyes never left Ally. He seemed to be trying to stare her into the ground, but she felt steady and refused to give him the satisfaction of cowering this time.
Grabbing her things, she stood. Time to get this over with. “Yes, I am. You drive. I’ll see you tomorrow, Molls.”
Chris watched as Ally led the way to his car and climbed in without waiting for him to assist. Something had changed in the last few minutes, and he now felt anger radiating from her.
Other than the terse directions she provided, she sat in silence as they drove. What did she have to be so irritated about? He was the wronged party here. When he’d seen her come around the corner, his body had leaped to life, his blood heating and his hands itching to touch her again. But the look on her face when she’d recognized him had killed that feeling as it answered almost every question he’d asked himself on the drive down from Charleston. She was pregnant. The baby was his. And she hadn’t planned on ever telling him.
When he’d realized it was all true, the anger had boiled over and he’d blasted her with it. He hadn’t handled the situation as well as he’d planned, and now guilt nibbled at the edge of his ire.
The only important answer he didn’t have yet was why, but he planned to rectify that soon enough. With Ally practically vibrating with hostility as she sat next to him, though, he doubted he’d get a satisfactory answer at the moment.
In an attempt to both appease his guilt and ease the tension between them, he backtracked to less volatile territory—at least while they were in a small, enclosed space. “How are you feeling?”
Ally’s eyebrows went up and she seemed poised to attack. Instead she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “The mornings are pretty rough, and I’m tired a lot.”
“And that’s normal?”
She nodded. “Unfortunately.” Her lips twitched in amusement, and, for a brief moment, he flashed back to Tortola, back to when her inability to hide her reactions had charmed him. But the moment passed quickly, and her amusement faded as rapidly as it had come. “Turn left. That’s me on the corner.”
The two-story Victorian sat gracefully among its historic neighbors, beautiful and well cared for despite its age. He’d been so occupied on the short drive, he hadn’t noticed she was directing him to the heart of Savannah’s historic district. “This is your place?”
Ally didn’t break stride as she climbed the steps to the spacious verandah and slid her key into the lock. “The first floor is. I may not be the heir to a shipyard or have zillion-dollar endorsement agreements, but I do all right.”
So she did know who he was. She may not have known when they met, but at some point she’d done her homework. Which meant she could have contacted him if she’d wanted to. His ire flared up again.
Ally’s sandals slapped against hardwood floors, and the sound echoed off the high ceilings as she moved around the room before settling on an overstuffed red sofa. The apartment suited her—or at least the little he knew about her—old-fashioned around the edges but still modern. The absurdity of the situation hit him at that moment. A woman he barely knew was carrying his child.
“You wanted to talk. Let’s talk.”
The challenge was there; he no longer had the element of surprise on his side, and Ally must feel as though she had the home court advantage now. “How long have you known?”
“That I was pregnant? About three weeks.”
“And in all that time, it never occurred to you that you should tell me?” Agitated, he paced in front of the sofa she sat on, hoping the extra expense of energy would keep him from lashing out again as his temper built.
“To what end? As far as I knew, you lived on a boat somewhere in the Caribbean and hooked up with a different girl every night of the week.”
“And you assumed the swabbie wasn’t worth telling? He was good enough to sleep with on vacation, but not good enough to help you raise a child?”
“Be reasonable, Chris. It’s not a matter of ‘good enough.’ I was just trying to be rational about this.”
“When you found out differently, you didn’t call me because…”
“I only found out about the great Chris Wells twenty minutes ago, so it didn’t affect my assessment of the situation.”
“You expect me to believe that when you found out you were pregnant, you never once tried to find out more about me?”
For the first time in this ridiculous conversation, Ally’s temper seemed to flare. “To be brutally honest, I had enough on my plate to figure out. I wasn’t all that worried about you.”
“Oh, no. I can’t see why the father of the baby would have any impact whatsoever on your plans.”
As fast as it had come, the heat fled from her voice and her tone became conciliatory. “Don’t take it personally. I loved every minute we spent together, but it was just a summer fling. It was over, as far as everything was concerned.”
He gestured at her stomach. “I beg to differ.”
Ally sighed and rubbed her face. “Look. My hormones are a mess right now, I cry at the drop of a hat, I’m so exhausted I can barely keep my eyes open, and I haven’t been able to eat all day. I can’t deal with this level of hostility, and I don’t see much sense in continuing to shout at each other. Let’s just cut to the chase, okay?”
Personally, he felt there was a lot of ground still to cover, but only a true jerk would continue to upset a pregnant woman. It wasn’t good for the baby.
His baby.
While anger had been driving him since Molly unwittingly dropped the news, the magnitude of the situation finally slammed into him. He was going to be a father. Hard on the heels of that realization was the even more shocking understanding that he wanted this baby.
Now he needed to sit down. He chose a chair across from Ally and nodded for her to continue.
Ally took a deep breath before she spoke. “I didn’t try to find you because I didn’t think it would matter. You didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who was looking to be tied down, so telling you about the baby—even if I’d been able to locate you—didn’t seem like a winning situation.” He started to interrupt, but she hurried ahead. “Obviously, Iwas mistaken with that assumption, and for that I apologize. I didn’t set out to get pregnant, but I know I want her. Or him. You don’t have to worry, though. I have a good job, plenty of friends and family, and I can handle this. I don’t expect anything from you.”
Wringing Ally’s neck sounded very tempting at the moment. “What if I expect something? This is my child, too, remember.”
Genuine shock at his statement sent Ally’s eyebrows upward. Had she never once considered that possibility while she was “handling” things?
“Well, um, I’m sure we can work something out. Visitation arrangements or…”
“That’s not good enough.”
“Then what do you want?” There was a beat of silence before Ally laughed. “It’s not like we can get married or anything.”
Actually, that was a possibility he hadn’t considered yet. He hadn’t had three weeks to make decisions. Hell, he’d barely had three hours. “Why not?”
“Be serious.”
“Maybe I am.”
“I’m not looking to get married at the moment.” A shadow crossed her face but disappeared a second later.
“Neither was I, now that you mention it, but the circumstances have changed.”
That seemed to spark something, and her calm facade dropped. She stood and paced, and her hands moved agitatedly as she talked. “But the century hasn’t. We don’t have to get married because I’m pregnant. There are other—”
“I’m not going to be delegated to the occasional weekend.” He’d had enough of that with his own parents in the early days after their divorce. Until his mother had decided not to bother anymore, at least.
“Then what do you want?”
Before he even realized what he was doing, he was on his feet and his hands were gripping her arms. “To be a part of my child’s life. To be his father!”
Ally shook off his grip. “I’m offering you that. We’ll just have to figure something out that works for both of us. Charleston is only a couple of hours away…”
As unbelievable as it sounded, Ally seemed to think he was really going to settle for whatever little plan she had turning in her head. Not likely. “Damn it, Ally—”
She spun on him in a fury. “Don’t even look at me like that. How dare you come storming down here and start making demands? This is my baby, and I’ll be the one making the decisions.”
He moved toward her, and she took a step backward. “Your baby? Hello, you didn’t get pregnant by yourself. That baby is just as much mine as it is yours.”
She lifted her chin and tossed down the gauntlet. “Maybe not. Maybe I lied and it’s not yours after all.”
So much for cutting to the chase and discussing this like adults. “Don’t try me, Ally. You won’t like the results.”
Brown eyes narrowed and a flush rose on her chest. “Is that some kind of threat?”
“I don’t make threats. Just promises.”
The flush continued to rise up her neck, and Ally’s lips compressed into a thin line. “Get out,” she snapped. “Now.”
He stood his ground. “This conversation is not over—”
“Oh, yes, it is. Leave.” Stalking across the room, she picked up the phone. “Leave or I’ll call the police.”
“Now who’s making threats?”
“You’re not the only one who doesn’t make empty threats. Get out of my house.”
He’d never had anyone try his temper the way Ally did, and he was moments from saying or doing something he might regret later. Maybe it was best he leave before then. As he opened the door, he warned her one last time. “This doesn’t end here. This is far from over.”
“Oh, no. It’s over. I assure you of that. Goodbye, Chris.” She slammed the door behind him and he heard the lock click into place.
She thought it was that easy? That it was over just because she said so? She might have gotten away with it on Tortola, but the circumstances had changed dramatically.
He had his phone out of his pocket and his assistant on the line before he even had the car started.
Ally was in for a rude awakening.
Ally’s anger carried her as far as the kitchen for a glass of water before it deflated in a rush that had her knees buckling. Ice rattled in the glass as she filled it from the tap with a shaky hand. Easing onto a bar stool gratefully, she sipped carefully and cursed Chris for making her lose her temper.
She never lost her temper. She was the calm one while everyone else spun out of control. Molly had always praised her flair for diplomacy, a skill she’d honed over years of dealing with her family and their constant dramatics. Why had it failed her now? Instead of calmly—rationally—coming to a workable agreement and smoothing ruffled feathers, she’d managed to make the situation worse. Where was her famed calm and diplomacy today? It had to be the hormones. This pregnancy was really messing with her head.
But now that she could see something other than a red haze…Ugh. She may not know Chris very well, but she had a sinking feeling she’d made a huge tactical mistake in firing up his anger.
Her five minutes with Google earlier today had told her a lot about the great Chris Wells. A true golden boy, he came from old Charleston money and had the whole sailing world worshipping at his feet. Maybe she should have given in to her curiosity sooner; then she wouldn’t have been at such a disadvantage today.
“You sure know how to pick them,” Molly had said it with a kind of begrudging awe, but Ally knew that wasn’t the case at all. Molly saw his good looks, his charm and his money, and therefore branded him a good catch. Ally, though, knew better. Looks, charm and money didn’t equal squat in her book. Gerry had looks and charm to spare, yet he’d been an emotional black hole. She’d invested far too much in his dreams, only to get nothing in return except four years of doing his laundry. Golden boys had a tendency to expect the world to revolve around them, and she had learned her lesson the hard way. Hell, her own brother was a shining example—handsome and full of charm, he’d been dazzling girls since junior high. But he was self-centered and expected everyone to dance to his tune just for the privilege of basking in the reflected glow. His girlfriend, Diane, would have been history by now if she hadn’t turned up pregnant, and even impending fatherhood hadn’t tamed Steven.
If she’d found all this out about Chris and hadn’t been carrying his child, she probably wouldn’t have contacted him. Once bitten, twice shy. Between her brother and Gerry, she had enough experience to know that Chris would be a very bad idea.
And now she had someone else to think about, someone she had to put first. How long would Chris want to play Daddy before he got bored and went back to his far-more-exciting world? No way she’d put her son or daughter through that.
Most likely Chris was just reacting out of shock, anger and guilt. It would pass now that he knew she didn’t expect anything from him, and his sense of responsibility would fade. She just needed to wait it out. After all, even as mad as he was at the moment, what could he do?
Glad she hadn’t completely lost her ability to be rational, she sent a quick text message to Molly to let her know everything was okay and that she was now going to take a much-needed nap. The usual afternoon fatigue was even worse in the aftermath of such emotional upheaval.
She pulled the shades to darken the bedroom and didn’t bother to do any more than kick off her shoes before stretching out across the comforter. As she closed her eyes, the image of Chris climbing out of that car—that one second when she’d recognized him, before he had turned around and she’d seen the anger on his face—was waiting for her. And now that she was alone and sleep was crowding in from all sides, she couldn’t ignore the fact her heart had skipped a beat in excitement, and for a fraction of a second her whole body had screamed to life.
If only things were different….
Don’t go there. Ally rolled over and punched the pillow into shape. This was not the time to play If Only. She knew better than that. Things were what they were, and the sooner she got that through her head the better.
But it didn’t stop her mind from toying with the might-have-beens until sleep dragged her under a few minutes later.
CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_28b48234-5fd9-5937-9b20-6441a2eab3a8)
THE WORST PART of Chris’s job had to be the paperwork. He had no patience for the pages of numbers and reports that cluttered his desk on a daily basis. He’d rather be down in the yard doing something—anything, even welding, which he hated—rather than be stuck inside buried under a pile of paperwork. But, as Pops reminded him daily, OWD was still a family business, and as the only direct family Pops had left, Chris had to do his part.
That was soon to change, though. Chris being the only Wells left in line, that is. The news of Ally’s pregnancy had thrilled the old man and put a new spring in his step. A great-grandchild—security for keeping OWD in the family—had shifted Pops’s focus. He’d been a little disappointed Chris hadn’t chosen to go about procreating in the old-fashioned way and that more children wouldn’t be forthcoming anytime soon, of course, but he’d been more than just a little pleased, anyway. In the past few years, Pops’s encouragement to get married had crossed the line into harping, so Chris knew Pops would see this as hope Chris did intend to settle down and have many more children—if not with Ally, then with someone else.
But it had shifted—at least temporarily—focus off the Dagny and the solo attempt.
He understood all too well where Pops’s concerns stemmed from, but sailing had come a long way in the last twenty years, and his father’s boat, the Fleece, had lacked many of the technological and safety features currently being installed on the Dagny. Yes, any attempt to sail solo around the world was dangerous, but the chances of him ending up like his father were considerably less.
Nope, no matter what Pops’s hopes and plans were, he’d still be making his announcement at the club’s annual gala on September tenth. That would be just enough time to get a buzz going before he set sail in October, but not so long that it lost its newsworthiness before it happened.
In the meanwhile, though, he still had to go over the shareholders’ reports. Resigned, but determined to get it done in the least amount of time possible, he dug into the stack of papers. Engrossed and concentrating, he didn’t know Marge had even entered his office until the large manila envelope landed on his desk.
“The courier from Dennison and Bradley dropped this by for you. Can I ask why that shark has been circling the office recently?”
Marge always referred to his grandfather’s attorney as “that shark.” Where the animosity came from, Chris didn’t know. Marge seemed to like everyone else in the world, but she always absented herself whenever Dennison came around and spoke disparagingly of him afterward.
