Teresa Southwick - An Unexpected Partnership

“You’re having the baby.”

“How many times do I have to repeat it? The child I’m carrying is the only reason I need your help. If I wasn’t pregnant I’d muddle through without you. Yes, I’m having the baby.”

“Then I’m definitely going through with our deal. I’ll contact my lawyer to draw up papers.”

“I’ll make an appointment for blood tests at a private lab.”

“Fair enough.”

“Okay, then.”

She said that with way more enthusiasm than she felt. He obviously didn’t believe her about the baby, and the juxtaposition of his agreement implied that if he had no connection to the child, she and her business could dry up and blow away. He was sticking around just to keep her honest.

She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he had to admit he was wrong about her.

* * *

Leo offered to pick Tess up for the meeting at his attorney’s office to sign the partnership agreement but she politely declined. In a very cool and distant tone, she’d said it would be best to meet there. Fine with him. He hadn’t seen her for a couple of weeks and that was for the best. A cooling-off period gave him time to brace himself to deal with her as they saved her bar. But out of sight didn’t mean she was out of his mind. Her and the baby. Damn.

He rode the eight-story building’s elevator to the top floor, where Annabel Sanders had her office. The doors opened into the reception area with a view of the whole valley. Huntington Hills in Southern California had a population right around two hundred thousand and was beautiful in the spring. Trees and flowers were blooming, and the vibrant colors of purple, pink and yellow stretched all the way to the mountains.

He walked over to the receptionist. “Hi, Geraldine.”

“Mr. Wallace.” The attractive woman was in her fifties and had stylishly cut short blond hair. Her blue eyes twinkled with humor. “And you know perfectly well the name is Geri.”

“Right. I keep forgetting.”

“It’s a common problem with our former-hockey-player clients. Too many shots to the head.”

“How many hockey-playing clients does Annabel have?”

“Only you. Thank goodness.”

“Ah. Maybe I can shake the bushes, contact some of my teammates. Send some business your way.”

“Please don’t. You keep us busy enough. What with all the investment opportunities you’re researching.”

He had to make up for lost time. His career ended abruptly, and not long after his marriage ended, too. It was a dark period, most of which he’d spent in Pat Morrow’s penalty box. He owed that man a lot for pulling his head out of his ass.

“You know you love me,” he said. “If you weren’t already happily married...”

She leaned back in her chair and looked up at him. “You’re a shameless flirt. I should leave my husband and call your bluff.”

“You should. But we both know you won’t. You’re way too smart to toss aside a good man for the likes of me.” Leo felt someone behind him and turned. “Tess. Hi.”

“Leo.”

“I didn’t hear you.” No doubt she heard Geri calling him out on his crap.

She ignored him and smiled at the receptionist. “Hello. Tess Morrow to see Annabel Sanders.”

“Nice to meet you.” Geri gave her the friendly receptionist look. “Annabel is with a client. Her meeting is running a little late. I apologize for that. If you’ll just have a seat in the waiting area, she’ll be with you both as soon as possible.”

“Thanks,” Tess answered.

“May I get you something? Coffee?”

“No.”

Leo noticed her already pale face go a little whiter. “You okay?”

“Fine.” She smiled at Geri, then walked over to the cushy chairs by the windows and sat.

Leo followed and took the seat at a right angle to hers. Because she’d told him she was pregnant, he knew she was nauseated from morning sickness. He still couldn’t quite wrap his head around the fact that the baby was his. Maybe.

“So, I got the results of the blood tests,” he said.

“Me, too.” There was a “told you so” look in her brown eyes.

“It’s not conclusive,” he pointed out.

“It conclusively confirmed you can’t be excluded as the biological father.”

She was right about that. He’d done the research. The most accurate results came from an infant’s umbilical blood or tissue from the placenta, and that would have to wait another seven or so months. Fetal DNA could be observed in the mother’s blood and rule out someone who absolutely couldn’t be the father. Right now the test results were not admissible in court for purposes of custody or child support.

But they prevented a guy from getting emotionally involved for months only to find out he had no biological connection. And sometimes a man was led to believe he was a father for several years before finding out he wasn’t. He didn’t intend to be that naive a second time.

“Leo? Are you all right?”

“Hmm?” He met Tess’s questioning gaze.

“You look weird.”

Not surprising. He was remembering a weird, painful time in his life. It still hurt and he’d be damned if he’d let another woman pass off another man’s child as his. “I’m fine. But I was going to say the same about you. You’re a little pale.”

“It occurs to me the term morning sickness is inaccurate. This icky feeling doesn’t just happen in the morning. It can be anytime, day or night.”

“So that’s why you turned green when Geri mentioned coffee.”

“I thought I did a good job of hiding it,” she said.

“No.” She might be concealing other relevant facts, but not her current distaste for coffee. “But you’re not supposed to have it anyway, at least not much,” he qualified. “It’s not a complete no on caffeine, but it has to be less than two hundred milligrams a day...” He stopped because she was staring at him as if he’d grown another head. “What?”

“How did you know that about coffee during pregnancy?”

He knew because he’d married the last woman who said she was having his baby and embraced the experience with her. Along with the pain of finding out the son he loved more than life wasn’t his, he remembered pregnancy do’s and don’ts. “I guess I just heard it somewhere.”

“You do meet a lot of women.” There was sarcasm in her voice.

“One of the perks of being a hockey star,” he said, hoping to change the focus of this conversation.

“Must be a difficult cross to bear.” Now bitterness mixed with the sarcasm.

If he didn’t know better, he would say she was a little bit jealous, but that proved again just how bad he was at reading women. She’d taken a dislike to him almost from the moment they met. There was definite female interest in her eyes, right up until Pat Morrow introduced him as a former professional hockey player. An athlete , she’d said, in a disdainful tone that lumped him in with litterbugs and dog haters. Neither of which he was.

He’d liked her from the first but she gave him the cold shoulder. Until the night of her grandfather’s memorial service, when she was hot as hell and took him to heaven. She was right about one thing. He had had no room in his brain to think about protection that night. Holding her felt that good. If the baby was his, the blame could be shared fifty-fifty. But that night proved one thing. Tess was attracted to him even though she disapproved of him personally.

He met her gaze. “I do like women. That’s not a hanging offense.”

“No one said it was.”

“You didn’t have to say it. Judgment is written all over your face.”

“Wow,” she said. “Apparently my face gives away more than just the fact that the thought of coffee makes me want to barf.”