Marion Lennox - Their Baby Bargain

‘You really didn’t want me to find you?’ Luke asked curiously. ‘You honestly don’t want anything more to do with your daughter?’

‘I didn’t want her to start with,’ she said petulantly. ‘Your father did, and he caught me at a low moment. My modelling career was going through a dive, and all my friends were having babies, so I thought, well, why not? Babies look so cute, and your father told me there’d always be enough money for the best nannies.’

Not the best, Luke thought involuntarily. He had the best nanny in the world-right back in Bay Beach. Where he wanted to be right now…

‘But then-your father died and there was nothing.’ The girl’s voice had lost its sexy whisper as her distress showed through. Distress and anger. This wasn’t grief for his father, Luke decided. This was distress because she’d been cheated out of cash.

‘He’d promised there’d be money for ever, and there was nothing,’ she continued. ‘Nothing! They kicked me out of my apartment-which I thought we owned! My nanny left because I couldn’t pay her. So there I was, alone, and I’d never even changed the kid’s nappy. Suddenly I had to do everything. I hated it. Then, just as I hit rock bottom I got a call from the agency saying they had this job for me. Touring with the whole Europe collection. I’ll be in Europe for three months now-or even longer if my plans go right. You must see, I can’t have the kid.’

‘You can’t have Grace while you’re touring,’ Luke agreed quietly-so quietly that those who knew him well would recognise the danger signs. There was deep distaste in his voice. ‘Will you want her back afterwards?’

Lindy’s huge eyes widened in surprise, as if such a question was self-evident. ‘Why on earth would I?’

‘She’s your daughter.’

‘No.’ The woman shook her gorgeous mane of hair in quick decision. ‘That’s not how I feel about her. I was used. I was lied to. I was conned into having her and I want no responsibility for her future.’

‘She’s still very cute,’ Luke said, watchful.

‘Yeah? You try getting up at two in the morning night after night and see how cute she is. And the cost of nannies…’ Lindy’s face suddenly stilled, intelligence sharpening and focusing right on Luke. ‘But you must be rich. The guy I hired to find you said you were some sort of stockbroker, and if you can afford to come all the way to London to find me… If you pay for a nanny and something toward our keep then I might consider it.’

Her eyes narrowed, dollar signs lighting up in their depths. ‘I mean, it was your father who cheated me. You owe it to me.’

‘I owe you nothing.’ He’d had enough. Luke’s face was tight and hard. The thought of his half-sister with this woman was making his blood boil. ‘I’m not legally obliged to care for any other children my father might have had besides me.’

‘I know that,’ she snapped. ‘My lawyer said I couldn’t touch you. But she is your half-sister.’

‘And if I don’t look after her?’

‘Then I’ll get her adopted,’ Lindy said brutally. ‘I tell you, I can’t have her. What man’s going to look at me when I have a kid in tow?’

And that was the crux of the matter, Luke thought bleakly. Grace had no chance at all.

‘If I agree to take her…’ he said slowly-cautiously.

‘Will you?’ Her eyes widened again, clearly surprised, and Luke took a mental step back. It’d be dangerous for this woman to think he cared.

‘I have…I care for another child,’ he told her, and her face relaxed again, turning into a sneer.

‘Do you, now? How about that? I might have known. Like father, like son.’

‘As you say,’ he said neutrally. It wouldn’t hurt negotiations if Lindy thought he was heartless. ‘But I’ve thought it through and made a decision. If you really want to be rid of Grace, then I’ll take care of your daughter-out of memory for my father.’

She stared at him then, surprised. ‘You didn’t inherit that sort of conscience from your old man,’ she said, and a note of pleading suddenly entered her lovely voice. ‘That’d be great. If you would…’

‘If that’s what you want, then I need to be appointed her legal guardian,’ Luke told her. ‘If you really do want me to keep her.’

‘I don’t want to sign anything.’ She backed a step.

‘But I can’t take care of her without the legal right to do so,’ Luke said carefully-smoothly. ‘I’ve had legal advice. I need your official custody agreement.’

‘No.’

He sighed, but he’d come prepared. ‘I’m sorry, Lindy, but we can’t leave it like this. The way things are, Grace is in limbo, with me having no legal rights to care for her and you not wanting her.’

‘So what?’

His face hardened, but forewarned by Wendy-and his lawyers-he’d come prepared to play it tough. ‘Then maybe we need to go public,’ he said softly, watching her changing expressions. ‘Let the press know that you abandoned your daughter.’

Her face paled. ‘You wouldn’t.’

‘All I want is for you to give me legal jurisdiction to care for her,’ he said again, remembering Wendy. He needed to protect Wendy in all this. ‘Then I’ll take on your responsibility and you don’t need to worry.’

‘But…’ the woman bit her lip ‘…I might-’

‘Change your mind?’ Luke’s angry expression softened, just a little. ‘Lindy, the woman who’s looking after your daughter now is a social worker,’ he told her. ‘She’s the best-and she’s told me that as she gets older Grace will need contact with you as much or more than you do with her. Even if it’s only spasmodic. We can write access into any custody arrangement. That way, you’ll always know where she is, and if you wish to see her then you may.’

‘But not take her back?’

‘That’s right.’ With Wendy’s advice still ringing in his ears, he made his final ultimatum. ‘It’s not fair on Grace to do anything else. If you wish me to take on responsibility-and Grace’s expenses-for the rest of her life, I’m willing to do it, but only when it’s made legal.’

Lindy stared at him for one long, hard minute.

‘You know, you really are very cute,’ she said slowly-surprisingly-checking him out from the toes up. ‘You don’t suppose…?’

‘I don’t suppose anything,’ Luke said harshly. Heck, the woman scared him. More and more he was thinking longingly of Wendy. Wendy of the flowery skirts and the wispy curls and the mystical, caring quality that was light years away from this woman’s glamour. ‘If you agree, then I’ll meet with you and my lawyers in the morning. Yes?’

She chewed her pretty lip for all of three seconds. This was obviously no bigger decision than deciding what colour nail polish to put on.

‘Yes,’ she said finally. ‘And then I can get on with my life.’

‘The Aston Martin’s still here, I see.’

Wendy was digging up weeds from an overgrown rose garden. Shanni had come on her by surprise, and now she sank down to sit in the sun beside her friend. ‘So when does Wonder Boy return?’

‘Maybe Tuesday.’

‘Tuesday.’ Shanni nodded. ‘Can I meet him?’

Wendy sighed and stopped digging. ‘He’s my boss, Shanni. Not my friend. So no, you can’t meet him. He may only be here for an hour or so. He’s bringing Grace’s custody papers and a legal employment contract for me. After that, he’s free to go where he will.’

‘He’s adopting Grace?’

‘So it seems.’ Wendy sat back on her heels and regarded her cleared earth with pride. After so much hard work, the house and garden were starting to look great. ‘It’s surprised me, too,’ she admitted, ‘but there it is. He’s willing not just to take on her care, but to take on her care for ever. He rang from London yesterday. The adoption won’t be formally through for three months. Lindy can change her mind any time in that three months but he’s pretty sure she won’t. He’s taken the first steps and he’s now Grace’s legal carer.’

‘So he has a baby for ever?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you…’ Shanni eyed her friend sideways. Sitting here in the sun, she’d never seen her friend looking so content. So at peace with her world. For once, things were turning out right for Wendy, and it pleased Shanni to the socks. ‘You might just have a job and a home for ever.’

‘I doubt our Mr Grey wants to be saddled with a baby by his side as he jets round the world doing very important things,’ Wendy said contentedly. ‘After all, he’s an international man of business.’

‘And you’re content to stay and keep the home fires burning while he jets?’

‘Shanni, this arrangement gives Gabbie a home,’ Wendy murmured. As they spoke, Gabbie was crawling out from under a bush that she’d decreed was her cubby house. Away from the tensions of the orphanage-from the pressures involved in housing half a dozen children from disturbed backgrounds-the little girl was blooming by the minute. She was growing braver and braver. ‘My Gabbie has a gorgeous little sister, and she has me,’ Wendy said softly, watching her. ‘That’s worth a million. Or more!’

And you have a home, too, Shanni thought with pleasure, though she didn’t say it. That had to be worth even more.

But overwhelmingly Shanni was aching to meet this unknown Luke-this wonder man who’d provided this happy-ever-after setting for her friend. Because Shanni’s sharp mind was asking all sorts of silent questions. After all, this house had everything it needed for a family-except for one thing.

Hmm.

LUKE arrived home at midnight on Monday night. Home…

He pulled into the farm driveway and stared up at the darkened house, feeling a gut-wrenching gladness at reaching his destination that he hadn’t felt since he was a child. This really was his home.

Hell, he’d never realised how much he’d missed it.

The place looked somehow different than when he’d left, even in semi-darkness. The moon was almost full, and he could see the ancient rose bushes around the front entrance had been pruned back, and the garden beds had been dug over. The last of the boarding over the windows had been removed. There was gleaming glass in every frame, and there were curtains behind the glass. The place looked clean and welcoming, and a couple of old chairs had been dragged outside onto the veranda so one could sit outside and watch the distant surf.