Jackie Braun - Boardroom Baby Surprise

Jackie Braun

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Cover

Title Boardroom Baby Surprise Jackie Braun www.millsandboon.co.uk

About the Author Jackie Braun is a three-time RITA ® finalist, three-time National Readers’ Choice Award finalist and past winner of the Rising Star Award. She worked as a copy-editor and editorial writer for a daily newspaper before quitting her day job in 2004 to write fiction full time. She lives in Michigan with her family. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.jackiebraun.com ‘My heroine comments that she usually doesn’t fall for the tall, dark and brooding type. Neither do I, but we both made an exception in Bryan Caliborn’s case.’ — Jackie Braun Dear Reader BOARDROOM BABY SURPRISE is my nineteenth book. (Twentieth if you count the first one I ever wrote. It was a train wreck that never got published.) Anyway, each book presents its own set of challenges and rewards. The process is never the same. But it often happens when I sit down to write that the characters come to me first. That was the case with this book. My heroine, Morgan Stevens, is independent and self-sufficient, but when she finds herself alone and a new mother she is forced to rely on the hero, Bryan Caliborn. As for Bryan, he’s used to taking care of situations and looking after people, but in Morgan’s case he finds himself drawn in emotionally. Lots of obstacles stand between them and their happy ending—which made the story tricky for me to write, but hopefully makes it that much more enjoyable for you to read. As always, I welcome your comments. I can be reached through my website at www.jackiebraun.com Best wishes Jackie Braun

Dedication For my boys, Daniel and Will

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Copyright

Jackie Braunis a three-time RITA ®finalist, three-time National Readers’ Choice Award finalist and past winner of the Rising Star Award. She worked as a copy-editor and editorial writer for a daily newspaper before quitting her day job in 2004 to write fiction full time. She lives in Michigan with her family. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.jackiebraun.com

‘My heroine comments that she usually doesn’t fall for the tall, dark and brooding type. Neither do I, but we both made an exception in Bryan Caliborn’s case.’

— Jackie Braun

Dear Reader

BOARDROOM BABY SURPRISE is my nineteenth book. (Twentieth if you count the first one I ever wrote. It was a train wreck that never got published.) Anyway, each book presents its own set of challenges and rewards. The process is never the same. But it often happens when I sit down to write that the characters come to me first.

That was the case with this book. My heroine, Morgan Stevens, is independent and self-sufficient, but when she finds herself alone and a new mother she is forced to rely on the hero, Bryan Caliborn. As for Bryan, he’s used to taking care of situations and looking after people, but in Morgan’s case he finds himself drawn in emotionally.

Lots of obstacles stand between them and their happy ending—which made the story tricky for me to write, but hopefully makes it that much more enjoyable for you to read.

As always, I welcome your comments. I can be reached through my website at www.jackiebraun.com

Best wishes

Jackie Braun

For my boys, Daniel and Will

CHAPTER ONE

SEATED in the tastefully decorated reception area at Windy City Industries, Morgan Stevens gripped the upholstered arm of the chair and panted as discreetly as she could.

Breathe, she coached herself. In…out…and again.

The jagged edge of the contraction was just beginning to wear off when the secretary returned through one of a trio of doors on the opposite wall.

The name on the woman’s desk plate was Britney. It suited her to a T. She was young, attractive, model-slender and crisply fashionable in a fitted black suit, bold-print silk blouse and a pair of killer heels. In comparison, Morgan felt decidedly dowdy in her pastel-colored maternity tent and the comfortable flat sandals that were the only shoes that would accommodate her swollen feet.

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Caliborn is busy and can’t see you,” Britney said, working up a smile that looked about as sincere as a shark’s. “Might I suggest you make an appointment before coming by next time?”

Why? So he could be conveniently gone when she got there? No way. Morgan had been trying to reach Bryan Caliborn for months. She laid a hand on her protruding midsection. Nearly nine of them. The only correspondence she’d had in return, if it could be called such, was a letter from his legal counsel advising her that Mr. Caliborn disputed her allegation of paternity. In fact, he disputed knowing her. He considered her claims nothing less than extortion, and he would sue for damages if she continued to make them.

More than hurt and insulted by his threat, Morgan was outraged. If he didn’t want to play a role in their child’s life, fine. He should just say so. But to say they’d never met, well, that was beyond defense, legal or otherwise. She never would have taken Bryan Caliborn for such a ruthless, heartless man. Nor had he seemed slow, but he had to be if he wasn’t aware that all it would take was a bit of DNA to confirm Morgan was telling the truth. She’d hoped, apparently in vain, to avoid that sort of ugliness.

Rising awkwardly to her feet, she returned the young woman’s smile with one that was equally insincere. “Fine. Please pencil me in for his earliest availability.”

“Let me just check his calendar and see when that might be,” Britney said.

Morgan saw no sense in arguing with the secretary. She would deal with the elusive businessman herself. And she would do so now. While Britney walked behind her desk, Morgan headed to the door through which the woman had appeared a moment earlier. She assumed it was Bryan’s office. Opening it, however, she found it was a conference room, a conference room that was filled with suit-clad professionals seated around an oblong cherry table. File folders were open in front of them, not that they were looking at the pie charts and bar graphs. They were gaping at Morgan. But it was the man at the far end of the room who held her attention.

Handsome? No. A better word would be arresting . He had dark, almost black hair and eyes of the same fathomless hue. His face was angular with sharp cheekbones and slashing brows that, at the moment, were pulled down in a frown. The nose above his sculpted, flesh-toned lips was thin and just crooked enough to give it character.

Morgan swallowed. Even seated, it was obvious he was tall and powerfully built. Never in her life had she been attracted to the dark and brooding sort, but something about this man was definitely appealing. She told herself it was only because he seemed oddly familiar.

That thought shattered when he spoke. She’d never heard a voice like that before. He didn’t break the silence so much as pulverize it. His words boomed through the room like a thunderclap when he demanded, “What is the meaning of this?”

“Sorry,” she began, backing up a step only to bump into the secretary, who took Morgan’s arm. The gesture seemed more like an effort to detain rather than to steady her, which irritated Morgan enough to prompt her to say, “I need to speak with Bryan Caliborn, and I need to speak to him right now. I thought he might be in here.”