Andrea Laurence - More Than He Expected

Gwen smiled and held out her wrist to look at it. “I’ve worn it every day since you bought it for me.”

Alex shook his head. He’d practically had to force the gift on Gwen. She’d finally chosen the bracelet under the threat of not leaving the store until she picked something. She’d refused diamond earrings. The roses and wine had been a complete failure. But at least she liked the bracelet.

“It’s my chastity bracelet.”

“What?” Alex nearly choked. “Like a chastity belt?”

“Slightly less medieval, but the same basic idea. I wear it as a reminder.”

“You’re using my gift as a reminder to avoid men? The irony is rich.”

Gwen shrugged. “It was perfect timing. You insisted I buy something. I saw the lock charm in the case, and I knew it was the perfect symbol of the new journey I was starting on. A subtle reminder to stay on track, as if being pregnant wouldn’t do that for me already. I mean, who’d want me like this? It was the perfect time to quit dating.”

Alex was about to tell her that he, for one, would still want her, when Adrienne’s voice in the kitchen caught their attention. “Gwen?” she called.

“You’d better go,” Gwen said, standing quickly. She picked up the roses and wine from the dresser and thrust them back at him. “Take these with you. I don’t want to explain where they came from.”

Alex wasn’t quite ready to leave, but he wasn’t ready to explain to Adrienne why he was alone with Gwen, either. Jumping up, he stuck his head out the doorway toward the kitchen, then dashed off in the other direction. He rounded the corner into the living room unseen and opted to head back to his room to finish unpacking. Or at least, to decompress. He’d had too big a shock in the last few minutes to go out onto the patio and be the life of the party just yet.

Talk about a game changer! For the most part, Alex thought he had women figured out. Between his mother and the list of ladies who had drifted in and out over his lifetime, he had a pretty solid understanding of the female of the species.

The exception was Gwen.

Somehow she took all his expectations and tossed them out the window. She was a genuinely good person. The first moment he’d laid eyes on her, she had been running herself ragged to make Will and Adrienne’s wedding special. Later, he’d discovered she spent her working hours taking care of the sick, and from the looks of things now, she sacrificed her precious personal time for others, too. He couldn’t imagine even one of the women he’d dated over the last ten years agreeing to anything like that. The majority of them were looking for some hedonistic pleasure or a sugar daddy. Either way, it was all about them. Selfish and spoiled, every last one of them. It was no wonder he never wanted to keep them around for long.

But Gwen … having a stranger’s baby and asking for nothing in return? To subject her body to the ravages of childbearing without the benefit of having her own child when she was done? That wasn’t exactly like loaning your neighbor a cup of sugar or donating an old coat to the homeless shelter. She was taking charity to a whole new level.

Alex slipped into his bedroom and shut the door behind him to block out the rest of the world. It wasn’t until his weight sank down into the soft mattress that the rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins finally seemed to subside.

Gwen was a remarkable woman. Smart, funny, caring, but saint or no, Alex had to admit he was still relieved to find that wasn’t his child. There were worse women in Manhattan to be bound to through the bonds of shared custody, but that had been close. Too close.

Since he’d started his heated pursuit of women, Alex had been nearly religious about using protection. It was the only way to shield himself. Not only from disease but from the women out there who would like nothing better than to have his child and a permanent connection to his bank accounts. The Stanton Steel company had made a fortune during the race to build railroads across the United States. The generations since then had done well investing it. And Alex was the sole heir to it all.

By necessity, his record with women was flawless. To the dismay of women everywhere, no one had conceived Alex Stanton’s child. And for that, he was eternally grateful. He wasn’t interested in the emotional, physical and financial entanglements. If his parents had taught him nothing else, they had shown him that marriage for the sake of a child made everyone miserable in the end. He had no intention of becoming a workaholic who bought his son’s affections, like his father, or an emotionally abusive recluse like his mother, who blamed her son for her own wretched existence.

If he died single and childless, Alex would consider that a victory. He’d rather donate his fortune to charity just to hear the collective sound of the hearts of every ambitious socialite in Manhattan breaking.

And yet … for half a heartbeat when he’d thought Gwen was having his baby … there’d been this feeling he hadn’t anticipated. Sure, he was angry with her for keeping it from him and sort of freaked out in general, but he’d also had a touch of excitement. He’d told himself after their weeks together that his thoughts of Gwen would fade. Continuing in any kind of real relationship with her would just lead to expectations he couldn’t fulfill.

But in that moment, fate had very nearly made the decision for him. If that child was his, then perhaps Gwen could be, too. Not just a holiday fling, but something beyond that. Maybe they wouldn’t have the kind of family pictured on Christmas cards, but there could be more than what they’d had. And he’d wanted it. The thought had flashed through his mind almost as quickly as his heart had raced in his chest.

And then it was gone.

Alex would never tell another living soul about his moment of weakness. Nor would he admit that, when she’d said the baby wasn’t his, he’d felt a pang of regret and jealousy mingled in with the rush of relief.

What the hell was wrong with him?

Certainly he didn’t require a baby as an excuse to have Gwen in his arms again. That was a life-changing complication he simply didn’t need. But knowing that she was still single, albeit a bit preoccupied, meant his plans for this week hadn’t completely fallen apart yet. If she was interested, they could still have a little fun and, hopefully, this time he’d be able to move on when it was over.

Alex heard a familiar melody of a woman’s laughter from the patio. He strode to the window and pulled aside the curtain. Gwen had joined the others outside. She was standing near the sparkling turquoise pool, talking to Adrienne and another woman he didn’t know. He couldn’t hear their conversation, but Adrienne spoke and Gwen laughed again.

He had missed that sound. When Gwen was really tickled, she laughed wholeheartedly. No polite, uptight chuckles from her. He loved how she could let herself go. Whether it was laughter or pleasure, she allowed herself to just feel it and react without worrying what other people thought. As he watched, her head tipped back and she giggled in unrestrained amusement. Her eyes closed, her white smile flashing up at him. Her movement allowed the golden sunlight to highlight the creamy expanse of her chest and shoulders exposed by her dress.

Alex had been too preoccupied earlier to notice how Gwen had changed since he had seen her in November. Last year, long hours at the hospital and attempts to diet before the wedding had trimmed her petite frame to the point of being almost too thin, in his opinion. Women always worried too much about those last few vanity pounds. In his experience, a woman with curves and a healthy appetite was more fun both in bed and out.