Cursing a blue streak, Luke bolted out of bed and hurriedly searched for his jeans in the pile of clothing on the bedroom floor. Who the hell would be calling him at this hour of the night? And why couldn’t he find his damned cell phone?
“Do you have any idea what the hell time it is?” he demanded when he finally found his phone and ended its incessant noise.
“I don’t give a damn what time it is, we need to talk.”
At the sound of his twin brother’s voice, Luke growled, “This had better be important, Jake.”
“There’s something wrong with Arielle,” Jake said, unaffected by Luke’s harsh tone.
Luke’s irritation at being wakened in the middle of the night instantly disappeared at the mention of his younger sister. “Is she all right? What’s happened? Does she need a doctor?”
“I’m not sure.” Jake paused. “She tells me she’s fine, but when I called her this evening she was sobbing her heart out. Again.”
“Again? You mean this has happened before? How recently? And why haven’t I heard about it until now?” Luke demanded. Normally, he and Jake shared everything. Especially their concerns about their younger sister.
“She begged me not to say anything to you the first time it happened,” Jake answered. “And I figured it was just one of those emotional things women do when they have a bad day.”
Checking to see if his conversation had disturbed Haley, Luke found her still sleeping peacefully in his bed. Satisfied, he turned his attention to the matter at hand. Normally a very happy person, Arielle rarely cried unless something was terribly wrong.
“How many times has this happened?”
“Twice,” Jake confirmed. “And you and I both know this isn’t like her.”
“Did she tell you why?” Luke inquired, quietly opening the door and walking into the great room.
“I asked, but she wouldn’t tell me. And that’s what has me concerned. She’s never kept anything from us before.” Jake’s frustration was evident in his tone. “The only thing she would say was we couldn’t fix everything for her and that she’d work it out on her own.”
That wasn’t like their younger sister at all. From the time she could talk, Arielle had shared everything that went on in her life with them and never hesitated to come to either one of them with whatever problem she had.
“Maybe she’s having second thoughts about this deal she insisted we all make with Emerald Larson,” Luke offered, thinking aloud. God only knew he’d had more than his fair share of misgivings.
“I seriously doubt it.” Jake snorted disgustedly. “She told me last week that she’s already put in her resignation at the preschool, given notice on her apartment and couldn’t wait to move to Dallas.”
Luke remained silent as he thought of what could possibly be wrong with their little sister. “Don’t women sometimes cry when they go through that hormonal change each month?” he asked, wondering if Haley was prone to mood swings.
“How the hell should I know? If you’ll remember, when Arielle went through puberty, we didn’t have a clue what to tell her and ended up having our secretaries talk to her about what was going on with her body,” Jake huffed, sounding just as clueless as Luke felt. “Since neither one of us has a wife to talk to her, should we have your assistant give her a call and find out what the deal is? They seemed to hit it off pretty well the last couple of times she and I flew into Nashville for a visit.”
Luke took a deep breath. He’d intended to call Jake and tell him about his plan for an heir and his agreement with Haley once they returned to Nashville. But since he had his brother on the phone, Luke figured there was no time like the present to fill Jake in.
“Well, you’re half right about that statement,” he admitted, anticipating his brother’s reaction. “You might not be married, but I took the plunge this weekend.”
There was a shocked silence before Jake shouted. “You did what?And why didn’t I hear about this sooner?”
“I didn’t make my decision until this past week.”
“What the hell were you thinking?” Jake countered, sounding thoroughly disgusted. “Haven’t you been listening when I tell you about all the nasty divorce cases I handle?”
Explaining his reasons for wanting a son, Luke carefully omitted Haley’s name when he told his brother about the agreement they’d reached. His brother had been teasing him for several years about having hired Haley to add beauty to the Garnier offices. Odd that Jake had noticed years ago what Luke had only recently discovered about her. But then, Jake had always taken an interest in every woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Are you sure you can trust this woman?” Jake sounded more than a little doubtful. “How long have you known her?”
“Five years and I have no reason not to trust her,” Luke confirmed, realizing that he’d never put his faith in any other woman the way he did Haley. “She’s above reproach.”
“I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that.” Always the divorce attorney, Jake demanded “What about a prenup? Please tell me you had her sign one.”
“Signed, sealed and airtight,” Luke answered.
“You should have had me look it over,” Jake groused, clearly disappointed that he’d been excluded from Luke’s plan.
“I would have if there had been time,” Luke reiterated, meaning it. “But I needed to move on this before she changed her mind.”
“So what if she had? I’m sure you could find another one willing to be the surrogate,” Jake said reasonably. “And you might not have had to get married to get what you wanted.”
Luke shook his head. “I didn’t want anyone else. This woman is perfect. She has every trait I’m looking to pass on to my heir.”
Several long seconds passed before Jake spoke again. “Well, now that you’re out of the running, I guess it won’t bother you if I make my move on that sweet little assistant of yours. You know how hot I’ve always thought she was.”
“I have it on good authority that Haley’s husband wouldn’t appreciate your plan to include her as the object of one of your sexual interludes,” Luke grumbled, suddenly more angry with his brother than he could ever remember and not entirely sure why.
He told himself it was because Jake was a notorious player and changed women as often as he changed his socks. But the truth of the matter was, Luke couldn’t stand the thought of any other man touching Haley.
Jake was silent before he finally spoke again. “Well, I’ll be damned. Haley is my new sister-in-law, isn’t she, Luke?”
Still trying to come to grips with the uncharacteristic possessiveness threatening to consume him, Luke ran his hand over the tension building at the back of his neck. “Yeah.”
“I wondered how long it would take for you to finally wake up.” Jake sounded genuinely surprised. “I’d almost given up on you noticing what a looker she is.”
“I told you the sole purpose of the marriage is to have my heir. It’s only a temporary thing.”
To Luke’s immense displeasure, Jake laughed like a damned hyena. “You keep telling yourself that, bro, and you might just start to believe it.”
If Luke could have reached through the phone, he’d have cheerfully choked his twin. “Did anyone ever tell you what a smart-ass you are, Jake?”
“You