“Shut up,” he said, and downed some more of his drink.
It was late Sunday afternoon, and she and Anna Cross—no, Anna Garrison now, Megan corrected herself—sat at her dinette table enjoying some coffee and sinfully good Tres Leches cake.
Jade was playing in the living room, where they could hear and sometimes see her.
The house was big enough for Jade to play in, but small enough for just two people. Megan was glad now she’d taken up Anna’s lease when she’d moved back to Miami. At the time, Anna had no longer needed the house in Coral Gables because she was marrying Parker Garrison.
Jade’s uncle.
Of course, that meant Anna was Jade’s aunt.
She really needed to ’fess up, Megan thought, looking at her friend.
She steeled herself and took a deep breath. “I have something to tell you.”
“Mmm?” Anna responded, cutting off another piece of cake with her fork. “I shouldn’t, but this is so—so yummy—”
“Jade is a Garrison.”
Anna stilled for a moment, then her fork clattered against her plate. “What?”
Anna stared at her in disbelief, a dozen questions flitting across her face.
Megan rubbed clammy hands against her shorts. “Before you came to Miami four years ago, I dated Stephen Garrison.”
“Stephen—?”
Megan nodded.
“I didn’t even know the two of you had been involved!”
“It wasn’t a long relationship.” Though it had left its permanent mark. “It ended badly, and once it did, I was reluctant for a long time to share the details with anyone.”
Now, though, she decided to fill in Anna on her past relationship and recent conversations with Stephen. Once she was done, she said, “He’s threatened to go public. And he demanded I marry him.”
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell him about Jade,” Anna said. “Not that I’m passing judgment. It’s just that I think I’d have found it hard to keep it secret.”
And that was why, Megan thought, she hadn’t confided in her closest friend about the details of Jade’s paternity. She knew Anna would be working at Garrison, Inc. headquarters, and she didn’t want to burden her friend with an explosive secret about the boss’s brother.
Of course, she’d been tripped up by not having confided in Anna.
Anna looked thoughtful now that she seemed to have recovered from the initial shock. “I knew there was something between you and Stephen. I got some hints from Stephen’s reaction when I mentioned you at dinner once. You also seemed to have a funny reaction at my wedding when he was heading our way.”
“Actually, Stephen discovered I was back in Miami when you mentioned it to him,” Megan said.
Anna’s brow furrowed. “Oh, Megan, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know how it would cause problems! All I wanted to do was send some business your way.”
“Thanks.” She reached out and patted Anna’s hand soothingly. “I know you had the best intentions.”
“And you know,” Anna went on, “you can help Stephen. The Jefferieses are pressing hard, helped along by what Parker thinks is a corporate spy within the Garrison organization.” Her lips twisted. “For a while, Parker—and, I guess, Stephen, as well—thought I was the spy.”
“Yes, you explained it to me.” She withdrew her hand and waved it around vaguely. “But now look at you. You’re the glowing newlywed.”
Anna laughed self-consciously, then murmured, “Parker…”
“Believe me, I’m very familiar with the charms of the Garrison men.” Megan nodded her head toward the front room. “I have a daughter to prove it.”
“But you don’t regret Jade, do you?”
“No, of course not. She’s wonderful. But now I have Stephen to deal with.”
“All the Garrison men are alike,” Anna observed obliquely. “What are you going to do?”
Megan sighed. “I’m not sure. Any suggestions?”
“Why don’t you agree to marry him?”
“Are you serious? I can’t!”
Obviously, Anna’s eyes were clouded by love, Megan thought.
“Why not?”
Two simple words, and yet they dredged up a wealth of emotion, Megan thought. She was dangerously weak where Stephen was concerned, despite everything.
She’d seen that herself since he’d walked into her life again. It had been the same old feeling of excitement and overwhelming awareness—as if she couldn’t stop arguing with him, and the only way to deal with it was to give in to the itch to jump his bones.
“He’s a cheat,” she contented herself with saying.
“Are you sure?” Anna pressed.
“You mean, am I sure I saw a woman with disheveled clothing emerging from Stephen’s yacht, claiming to have seen more of him than his famous cleft chin?” Megan asked sarcastically. “Then, yes, I’m sure.”
Anna cocked her head. “Well, even if he did cheat, that was four years ago. Now you have a child together. Think about Jade.”
In fact, she had been thinking about Jade. Until now, Jade hadn’t had a father in her life—though her own parents and family had been around in Indianapolis to shower her with love.
“You know,” Anna went on, “being married to Stephen might not be so bad. It would take away some worries. Jade would grow up with everything money has to offer. You wouldn’t have to worry about arriving at some complicated arrangement with Stephen for him to see her.”
Yes, she thought, but she didn’t know if she could take living under the same roof with Stephen. Sharing his bed…
Just being in the same room with him made her tense, jittery, and acutely aware of herself as a woman.
And she definitely couldn’t risk her heart again. She’d cried for days, heartsick, when she’d discovered his betrayal four years ago.
At the time, she hadn’t told him she was pregnant because she was sure a marriage between them would have been a disaster: he’d have cheated—he’d already proven himself capable of it—and she’d have wound up divorcing him to save herself.
There was no way she could marry him.
No way…no way…no way…
Unless…unless, of course, she could marry him without risking her heart again.
She paused.
Now, there might be a way out of her dilemma….
Six
Stephen stepped out of the elevators at Garrison, Inc., and the receptionist gave him a wide smile.
“Hi, Sheila.”
“Hello, sugar.” Sheila batted her eyelashes at him, and purred, “Come to make my day?”
He laughed. “I wish I could, honey, but duty calls.”
Sheila pretended to pout.
The blue-eyed, blond, ex-Playboy bunny was his type, but this time, he knew his heart wasn’t in their customary banter.
Damn Megan.
“Parker in his office?” he asked.