Barbara Dunlop - His Convenient Virgin Bride / Seduction on the CEO’s Terms - His Convenient Virgin Bride

What would she do? Come back to Montana with a baby in tow? Tell them she adopted some poor orphan in Romania?

It was a stupid plan.

Defeated, she slowly slid her way down the wall, water drizzling over her as she came to rest on the bottom of the tub. She wrapped her arms around her knees, staring blankly into space as the water turned from hot to tepid.

“Stephanie?” Amber’s voice surprised her. It was followed by a rap on the bathroom door.

“Just a sec,” Stephanie called out, rising to her feet, swiftly spinning off the now-cold water.

“You okay?” Amber asked.

“Fine.” Stephanie flipped back the curtain and grabbed a towel, scrubbing it over her puffy cheeks and burning eyes.

What was Amber doing in Montana?

“You’ve been in there forever,” Amber called.

“What are you doing here?”

“Royce got restless in Chicago. It was either this or fly to Dubai for the weekend. You want to come down to the main house for a while?”

Stephanie pressed her fingertips into her temples. The last thing in the world she needed was one of her brothers hanging around. She needed to be alone right now.

“I have to train,” she called through the door.

“You decent?” asked Amber.

“I’m—”

The door opened, and Stephanie quickly wrapped the big bath towel around her body.

“Morning.” Amber grinned.

“You never heard of privacy?” “We’re practically sisters.” Then Amber’s grin faded. She cocked her head, staring into Stephanie’s eyes. “What on earth?”

Stephanie quickly turned away, coming face-to-face with her own reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her cheeks had high, bright pink spots, but the rest of her face was unnaturally pale.

“I had a rough night,” she tried, but her voice caught on her raw throat.

Amber’s arm was instantly around her shoulders. “What’s wrong? Did you get bad news? One of the horses?”

“No.” Stephanie shook her head.

Then Amber’s gaze caught on something. Her eyes went wide, and her jaw dropped open.

Stephanie looked down to see the home pregnancy test box on the counter.

“You can’t tell Royce,” she croaked.

“You’re pregnant.”

Stephanie couldn’t answer. She closed her eyes to block out the terrible truth.

“Is it Wesley?”

Stephanie quickly shook her head.

“Who—”

“It doesn’t matter.”

There was a silent pause, then Amber touched her shoulder. “Alec.”

Stephanie’s eyes flew open. “You can’t tell Royce.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Amber pulled Stephanie into her arms. “It’s going to be okay. I promise you, it’s going to be okay.”

It wasn’t often that Alec spent time in his Chicago office. For one thing, his jobs rarely kept him in the city.

He preferred to be on the ground, gathering information from real people in different places around the world.

Consequently his office was stark, almost sterile. In a central location between the river and the pier, it was a single room on the thirty-second floor. The view was spectacular. The desk was smoke glass and metal, with sleek curves and clean lines. Matching chairs were thinly padded with charcoal leather. He used his laptop everywhere he went, and his file cabinets were stainless steel, recessed into the wall.

There was no need for a receptionist, since his phone number wasn’t published. He wasn’t listed on the building’s lobby directory, and he rarely had more than one job on the go at a time.

So, it was a surprise when the office door swung open.

Alec glanced up to see Jared fill the doorway. He walked determinedly inside, followed closely by Royce, their faces grim.

They shut the door and positioned themselves on either side, folding their arms across their chests, as Alec came to his feet. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that they knew he’d taken Stephanie’s virginity.

“Stephanie told you,” he stated the obvious. He wouldn’t lie, and he wouldn’t deny it. If they fired him, they fired him.

Jared spoke. “Stephanie doesn’t know we’re here.”

Alec nodded and came out from behind the desk, ready to face them.

Royce stepped in. “Stephanie’s pregnant.”

The words stopped Alec cold.

Seconds dripped like icicles inside the room.

“I had no idea,” he finally said.

“You’re not denying you’re the father,” Jared stated.

“I’m not denying anything. Whatever Stephanie told you, you can take as true.”

“Stephanie didn’t tell us anything,” said Royce.

Then Alec wasn’t about to add to their body of knowledge. What happened between him and Stephanie was private.

She was pregnant, and he’d absolutely do the right thing. And her brothers had every right to call him on it. But they didn’t have a right to anything more than she was willing to voluntarily share.

Jared took a step forward, and Alec wondered if he was going to take a swing.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” Jared said.

“I will marry her,” Alec offered up-front.

“Not good enough,” said Royce, squaring his shoulders to form an impenetrable wall next to his brother.

Alec didn’t understand. There were limited options at this point.

“We don’t want to see Stephanie get hurt,” said Jared.

Alec’s mental reflex was to make a joke about that being the understatement of the century. But he held his tongue.

“No woman wants a marriage of convenience,” said Royce.

Alec still wasn’t following.

“She wants a love match.”

Alec peered at Royce. “Are you saying you want her to marry someone else?” His thoughts went to Wesley, and he found his anger flaring. Wesley wasn’t the father of her child. Alec was the father of her child.

His mind wanted to delve into that unfathomable concept, but he forced himself to focus on Jared and Royce.

“We mean a love match with you.”

Alec gave his head a little shake.

He’d step up. He’d provide financial and any other support needed, but he and Stephanie barely knew each other. They weren’t going to settle down and live happily ever after just because her brothers decreed it.

He would never put any woman in that position. He knew from the catastrophe of his own parents’ marriage, exactly what happened when you tried to fake it.

“I hope that was a joke,” he intoned.

Jared took yet another step forward. “There is nothing remotely funny about any of this.”

Alec looked into the man’s eyes. “No, there’s not. But you can’t control people’s emotions. She’s no more in love with me than I am with her.”

“You can change that,” said Royce. “Tell her you love her, and make her fall in love with you.”

Alec slid his glance sideways. “No.”

Not a chance in hell. There was not a freaking chance in hell he would set Stephanie up for that kind of heartache.

Royce squared his shoulders. “It wasn’t a question.”

Alec could well imagine that few people said no to the Ryder brothers. They were intellectually and physically powerful men. Add to that their economic wherewithal, and they were pretty much going to get their own way in life.

But Alec didn’t intimidate easily, and he had a set of personal principles that stopped well short of duping a woman into falling in love with him.

“I’ll marry Stephanie,” he told them both. “I’ll respect her. I will provide for our child. And I’ll lie to the world about it if she wants me to. But I won’t lie to her.”

He gave a harsh laugh. “You two might think you’re protecting her by—”

“We are protecting her,” said Royce, and Jared’s expression backed him up.